Advent and Christmas top them all. We preach about the future, yet everything around us pulls us back in time. The Christmas trees, the toys, the carols, even the smells of season usher in a flood of memories. Change is the word that comes up again and again. We talk about it at vestry.
Parishioners talk about it over coffee downstairs.
Let me share with you what I continue to learn and experience. When we gather as a church, there is a part of us, deep down, subconsciously even, that longs to re-create the kind of church we knew at some other time and often, in some other place. For some, it is the church of our youth, when things seemed a lot less complicated and whole lot safer. I for one have wonderful memories of my Methodist church in Ohio. Churches used to sponsor little league teams and scouting groups, the men had their fellowship groups, and the women had their bazaars.