Miranda Writes

On Friday evening, December 3, while the Contoocook Artisans’ Craft Fair went on in our Great Hall, we did Messy Christmas in the Youth Room downstairs. It was wonderful! Around 60 people participated, over the course of two hours. Here is the text of the handout describing the activity stations, and some photos of the evening (all taken by Philip Hassett). Read the rest of this entry »

My final sermon at St. Andrew’s – an emotional occasion for me! You all are beloved, indeed.

The Sunday lectionary is one of the gifts of our tradition – the three-year cycle that brings us our readings for every Sunday of the year, walking us through the great stories and themes of the Bible, and resisting any temptation of your preacher to stick with her favorite texts! The new year for the lectionary always begins on the first Sunday of Advent; right now we are early in Year A. With a three-year cycle, the same lessons come around again every three years – a long enough space that we hear them in new ways, as new people, each time they cycle around.

When I began preparing this sermon, I realized that I had preached on these same texts before. In fact, this is the third time in a row that I have preached on these lessons. I preached on the same lessons in 2004 and in 2007. And each time, they seem to go with milestones and turning points in my life. Read the rest of this entry »

On Tuesday, Oct. 19, we held our first Messy Church gathering. Here’s a little about the event, from our flyers: “MESSY CHURCH is for everybody! Kids and elders, churchy folks and not-so-churchy, messy folks and not-so-messy, and everyone in between. If you’d like to spend some playful time with a holy story and some friendly folks, come try it out! We’ll share a simple meal, then explore the Moses story of Moses through crafts, conversation, and worship.”

We had a lot of fun! Check out the photos, below – and watch for information about our “Messy Christmas” gathering, soon after Thanksgiving.

To learn a little more about “Messy Church,” check out the website for the main Messy Church movement. It’s an idea coming out of churches in the UK, to make church engaging and accessible for all kinds of folks.

Read the rest of this entry »

Friends, those who were present on Sunday heard some big news about my life and our shared life. December 19, the 4th Sunday of Advent, will be my last Sunday at St. Andrew’s. I have received and accepted a call to become the Rector of St. Dunstan’s Church in Madison, Wisconsin, beginning in January. St. Dunstan’s congregation is about half the size of St. Andrew’s. It has a wonderful midcentury sanctuary and beautiful grounds, and the community is interested in outreach, caring for the environment, and spirituality. I’ve enjoyed getting to know them so far, and look forward to continuing that journey.

If you could peep inside our household and our hearts in these weeks, you would see much busyness and many emotions!  We are excited, of course – to begin this new chapter, to enjoy the cultural riches of Madison, to be back in the Midwest and within driving distance of all our parents. We are overwhelmed, of course – packing, transitioning, lots of travel, and the whole huge unfamiliar process of Buying A House.

We are also grieving, of course. We love Hopkinton. We love St. Andrew’s. We love you, our friends in this community. I believe this is the right time for me to leave, and the right place for me to go – yet we are not in any hurry to leave a place where we have been comfortable and happy, and where I have been able to grow so much in my ministry, thanks to good mentoring and good partners and good support and good opportunities.

I can’t wrap this up neatly right now. There is a lot to think and feel and process in the weeks ahead – for us, for sure; maybe for our friends here at church and for St. Andrew’s as a whole, as well. Right now it is a huge comfort that we will still be here for nearly two more months! Time to talk, share, and dream – about the next step for St. Andrew’s, and all the good that will come with it.

Do not grow weary in doing what is right… and whenever we have an opportunity, let us work for the good of all.

The parish that supported me for ordination was a wonderful, lively little church called the Church of the Advocate. The Advocate was a mission parish, born in 2003 out of the sense that it was time for something new in the Episcopal landscape of Orange County, North Carolina. My husband and I were part of a church we loved, but we were energized by the opportunity to be part of something new, to build church from the ground up. So we became part of the founding congregation – the group of 40 or 50 folks who became the Church of the Advocate.

Phil and I were ideal candidates for something like this – young, childless, energetic, with no investment in doing things the way they’d always been done. And many other members of the founding congregation were in their 20s and 30s, as well. But among our numbers were also a few elders – like George and Mary Esser. They were in their 80s, and had been faithful members of one of the established parishes in the area for decades. But they believed deeply in the need for a new mission. And when the Advocate got started, they didn’t just send a check and support it from the comfort of their familiar pew. They joined up – Mary wheeling George’s wheelchair into our borrowed meeting hall, week after week. Read the rest of this entry »

We’ve taken up a summer project here at St. Andrew’s of having some T-shirts printed up. It’s part of an effort to be more visible out in the world – we figure when good opportunities come along to volunteer or march or otherwise show up in force, we can put on our T-shirts and instantly be identifiable as a team, and a team affiliated with a particular faith community.

The shirts will have the logo & the church’s name on the front. On the back, I think they should say something attention-getting. Something funny or clever or poetic that also contains some truth about who we are. Time for some brainstorming! Read on, & share your ideas. Read the rest of this entry »

I am quite embarrassed by how late this post is! But better late than never.

On Saturday, April 3rd, the day before Easter Sunday, St. Andrew’s hosted a new event presenting the Easter story for children. Drawing on Gretchen Wolff Pritchard’s work on presenting Gospel stories for children, we told and enacted the story at the same time. Five youth and several adults assisted (thanks, Noah, Quincy, Carly, Peter, Josh, Tom, and others!). About fifteen children came and participated. I think we all really enjoyed the occasion, and it certainly helped me get into the Easter spirit! Here are some photos.

I just read a wonderful article about nurturing creativity and building community among artists and writers (and people who don’t yet know that they’re artists and writers). Read it here. I’d love to do something like this, someday… hold a retreat and see what blossoms. Any takers?

On Easter Vigil, in the holy candlelit darkness of our nave, our daughter Iona was baptized into the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church, using the ancient formula: “In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit!” She shared this sacrament with David and Carly, also members of this congregation.

We chose to have Iona baptized in a manner roughly following the practices of the early Church. Easter Vigil, the great and ancient service of the night leading into Easter, was the time when all new Christians were baptized during the first centuries of Christianity. After a long period (sometimes years) of getting to know, and be known by, the local Christian community, those seeking baptism would enter a period of intensive instruction during the season of Lent, and be baptized in time to participate in the Easter Eucharist. Baptism at Easter highlights the paschal meanings of the sacrament – baptism is a rite of death and rebirth, modeled on Christ’s death and resurrection. When, just after the baptisms, we should out, “The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!” – we are celebrating not only Christ’s resurrection, but the newly-baptized rising to new life.

Iona was baptized naked,with plenty of water – and we dressed her in her white baptismal gown (first worn, we think, by her maternal grandfather!) after the baptism. In this, too, we followed the ancient practices of the church. Back then, everybody was baptized naked – men, women, and children – in a large baptismal pool. Of course, they also lived in the Mediterranean, and it probably wasn’t so chilly on a spring night! As Christianity moved into the colder climes of Europe, this ancient practice of baptism was replaced by the more familiar rite of dribbling some water on the head of a (fully-clothed) child or adult. You don’t want all the newly-baptized catching pneumonia!

We chose to approximate the ancient practice with Iona (and our son, who was baptized in a similar fashion when he was a baby) not because we believe the oldest practice is always the best – there’s a lot of richness in rediscovering the practices of the ancient church, but a lot has changed in 2000 years and we can’t or wouldn’t wish to do everything exactly the way they did it!

Instead, we are attracted to these practices because they make the symbolism of baptism so clear and powerful. Dunking a baby in water, or even pouring a lot of water over a baby’s head, is a little scary – and it should be; baptism is about death. A naked, screaming, wet baby reminds us of the moment when a child first emerges from the womb – and it should; baptism is about birth. The white frock gets dirty and crumpled instantly, but when first put on, it’s clean and crisp and shining – just like the purity of new life that we celebrate at every baptism.

I am so grateful that wherever life leads us, Iona will always have been baptized at St. Andrew’s – will always have been welcomed into the fellowship of Christ by this warm and loving community. Thanks be to God!