“Sleepers, wake!” A voice astounds us,
the shout of rampart guards surrounds us:
“Awake, Jerusalem, arise!”
– Philipp Nicolai (1556-1608)
Dear Doubters of Great Faith,
One of my favorite Advent carols beckons us out of our drowsed slumber, warning of the immanence of the in-breaking of light into what seems eternal darkness, and heeding preparation, so that we too may share in the great gift of Immanuel, God among us. The time is nigh. In rising up, we become active co-conspirators, co-creators, as it were, with God, in the dawning of this new age.
And so, we awake, to go out and greet this baby, who is, in many human ways, like us, and yet in so many other ways, so radically, divinely different! God becomes like us, flesh, 10 fingers and toes, a beating heart, and a brain. And yet, in many ways, so different from us, at least the “us” that reside for the most part at the Episcopal Church of St. Thomas the Apostle. No, the setting for God’s arrival is not to be one of privilege, but a rather more starkly humbled entry.
That is what we are awakening to, crying toward, rejoicing in and for!
If God were entering our “neck-of-the-woods” on Christmas night, chances are the setting might resemble South Dallas more so than Highland Park. God’s choosing is to incarnate not into dominate privilege, rather something that, at least by our standards, is quite different. And so, facing in that direction as we awake and arise only makes sense!
And we at St. Thomas the Apostle have begun to awake, arise and rejoice in that direction as we make some bold proclamations of our deeply held beliefs, in our words AND in our deeds! In just the last few weeks, your Vestry formally resolved that #BlackLivesMatter, so much that they erected monumental signage in front of our sacred worship space to “rejoice” to the world as such! That is an important awakening! This Church is using its position of privilege to make a bold statement about the value and worth of lives different from most of our own.
Your Outreach Grants Committee, with Vestry approval, has just awarded a $3500 grant along with the commercial gas range from our kitchen to the Inspired Vision Compassion Center, which brings much needed hope and help into the southern sector Dallas. We are going out to meet Immanuel, God among us!
We finished our book study on Isabel Wilkerson’s Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents, as the first step of our sensitizing ourselves to the privilege of being the dominant “caste,” and what that means as we seek God in the radical other. How do we use our privilege to instigate systemic change in powers and principalities that have historically oppressed those who are not like us? Those questions are coming as part of our “rejoicing!”
Our search for the manger ALWAYS takes us in the direction of those who are not us. For they are the ones who will change the world, quite possibly by changing you and me!
Fr. Christopher+
Your Vestry took the bold action of proclaiming that #BlackLivesMatter. And now you can get in on the act. Even in the age of COVID-19, there are ways that we can share our commitment to the cause of racial justice and healing. We would love to get all our Doubters to stop by the Church property and take a selfie with our wonderful banner signage, posting it to your FaceBook page, “checking in” at St. Thomas the Apostle. If you don’t have a social media page, just take your picture and forward it to Fr. Christopher for posting on the St. Thomas page. This is a great way to raise awareness and let the world know that St. Thomas believes that #BlackLivesMatter!
