A friend of mine just became a grandmother for the first time.  As she shared pictures of her new grandson and of her daughter, she exclaimed, "And to think he's a New Year's baby!  What a great birthday!"  It took me a beat to remember that my friend was referring to Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, which usually begins in early September.

One reason the timing of the Jewish New Year makes so much sense to me is that I always think of this time of year, rather than January 1, as the real beginning of a new year.  Daughter of a teacher that I am, I love the beginning of the school year.  We live at a major intersection in our town, one that many kids must cross in order to get to one of the elementary schools, the middle school, and the high school.  I sat on the front porch this morning with my coffee, watching first the teenagers, then the middle schoolers, and finally the little ones with parents (and many with the family dog as well) in tow, heading off to school, many with brand new backpacks.   

We are, of course, celebrating a kind of new year here at Good Shepherd as we begin our program year.  I hope you have had some time this summer for renewal, rest, and refreshment.  I hope you've had some time to dig into a good book or to dig your bare toes into the sand, and that you've eaten some ice cream or blueberry pie or your favorite summer treat.  I hope too that you are ready to join us at church as we begin a new year together, and that you are excited by all the great things happening at our church.

This autumn we celebrate not just the beginning of a new program year, but the beginning of a new century at The Good Shepherd, as we celebrate our centennial.  We are wrapping up a successful capital campaign, and as those pledges come in over the next three years, we will be renovating and repairing our beautiful building and grounds, and funding outreach and mission work in our own community and in the diocese. 

This week, the building is full of workers as we try to finish up some big projects.  There's scaffolding and workers high on our roof, fixing the leaks and repairing the flashing and steeple.  We have a beautiful new sidewalk, and the masonry work on the small walls and the bench is being completed.  A crew made up of both volunteers and professionals has been working on our boiler.  (Jim Strack made special pallets and a temporary ramp to get the boiler parts in, and Mark Manzelli and a colleague, along with Jim, hauled literally a ton of parts into the boiler room just yesterday!)  Volunteers have been cleaning out our church school classrooms, getting rid of decades worth of accumulated--uh, stuff.  Painters are downstairs as I write, painting the classrooms and getting them ready for our church school kids.  And then, this winter, we will repair our organ so that that beautiful instrument will be restored in time for Easter Sunday.  More work will be completed next summer and into the fall.

In late September, we will celebrate our centennial and capital campaign with a special liturgy and with our Canon to the Ordinary, Mally Lloyd, and in October, everyone is invited to a parish-wide celebration with photographs, music, activities for the kids, and, of course, a delicious meal and plentiful desserts.

In the next few weeks, we will bless the animals, launch preparations for a mission trip to Honduras, celebrate our outreach work with B-Safe, celebrate baptisms, and begin Christian formation classes for all ages.  In short, this is a great time to recommit to our beloved Church of the Good Shepherd and to invite others to be a part of this community.  It feels to me that God is making all things new and inviting us into new ministry and mission, and equipping us for deeper relationships.  I'm so grateful to be a part of this exciting new year, and so glad that all of you are, as well.

"Lord, make us instruments of your peace..."

In the aftermath of the horror of toxic gas being used against civilians in war-torn Syria, and with our government now debating a proposal for military intervention, there are many hard questions and no simple answers.

The political and military debates focus on targets, goals to be achieved, proportionality, probability of success and exit strategies.  The questions for the church are different:  Who is our neighbor?  If we seek peace from gun violence at home on our streets, how can we not seek the same for our global neighborhood?  Is it ever right to strike out or retaliate, and if or when we do, is our use of force to gain power and punish, or is it to defend and protect those who are weak, poor, vulnerable or oppressed?  What is our Christian role at a time like this?

"Lord, make us instruments of your peace..."

We have been praying, as millions of people of faith have been praying, about Syria.  Our diocese has for several years had a mission relationship with the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem (which comprises Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria), and so we have talked with that diocese's bishop, the Rt. Rev. Suheil Dawani, about the violence in Syria and about the refugees pouring into Jordan.  We agree with Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby who recently said in the House of Lords:  "...there is as much risk in inaction as there is in action.  But as in a conflict in another part of the world, a civil conflict in which I was mediating some years ago, a general said to me 'we have to learn that there are intermediate steps between being in barracks and opening fire.'  And the reality is that until we are sure that all those intermediate steps have been pursued, just war theory says that the step of opening fire is one that must only be taken when there is no possible alternative whatsoever, under any circumstances." 

We, your bishops, do not feel sure that all economic and diplomatic efforts have yet been exhausted or that there are not other international vehicles that can be used to bring a tyrant to justice.  We do not believe that U.S. military action is warranted at this time.  The victims of this terrible conflict are our primary concern.

Some think a call for prayer is a weak response.  In fact, prayer is powerful and the most important action we can take.  Pray for those who suffer.  Pray for our enemies.  Pray for our government and for all in positions of power and leadership.  Pray that hearts and minds will be led toward right action.  Pray for peace.

What else can we do to be instruments of peace?  We can stay informed.  We can let our voices be heard by writing and calling our Congressional delegation and President Obama.  We can give to relief for refugees.  Please know that the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem (www.j-diocese.org) is responding through churches in northern Jordan and in conjunction with the Fellowship of Middle East Evangelical Churches (Orthodox, Lutherans and Anglicans) and invites our support.  Episcopal Relief & Development funds also are helping to support the relief work, and you can direct donations via www.episcopalrelief.org.

In the midst of such complication and complexity, the Gospel of Jesus is clear:  give aid to the widow, the orphan, the afflicted, the hungry, the homeless and the oppressed.  In this current season of conflict, let us do the work of the Gospel.  Let us be makers of peace, a role from which there can be no exit.

The Rt. Rev. M. Thomas Shaw, SSJE

The Rt. Rev. Gayle E. Harris

A dear colleague sent around an e-mail last week, asking if any of us would be preaching on the crisis in Syria, and if so, what we would be saying.  I knew that while I was planning to tackle a difficult gospel reading, I wouldn't be preaching on Syria or proposing any ideas on what our government should or should not do there in response to the chemical weapons attacks that killed nearly 1,500 people in August, or the civil war that has displaced nearly a third of the population, killed over 100,000 people so far, and made for over a million refugees in Lebanon alone.  The reason is not that I think world events have no place in church; on the contrary, I think that we should address events in our community, nation, or world in church.  The reason is that while I am heartsick about events in the Middle East and in particular in Syria, I honestly don't know what, if anything, our government should be doing in response.  I am glad that our bishops contributed a letter with their thoughts (the entire text of which appears below, along with links to the Episcopal Relief Fund) and the request that all of us pray and think deeply about Syria and its people.

Christians have always struggled with when or even whether military response is called for, and with the tension between the call to be peacemakers and the mandate that people of faith must act to end oppression and injustice and to protect the weak.  Theologians from Augustine on have tried to formulate guidelines for when war could be considered just.  There is a strong line of thinking on the other side, in the form of Christian pacifism, that says that war is never justified.  It was in the context of our nation's grappling with the horrible dilemma posed by events in Syria that I turned to our church's book of holy men and women to choose a saint to highlight for this week.  I was surprised to find that one of the saints for early September is a bishop whose pacifism cost him his job, and who, though vilified in his own time is now honored.  He is a reminder that we must all work out with, as the Apostle Paul wrote, "our own faiths, with fear and trembling." 

Paul Jones was a faithful and popular priest and rector, who was graduated from what is now the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachusetts.  In 1915, he was elected Bishop of Utah.  As our nation moved closer to joining World War I, Jones's views became increasingly controversial. He came increasingly to believe that war is never justified and that participating in any war is unchristian.  The House of Bishops ultimately was called in to mediate in the controversy and determined that Jones should resign his episcopacy, rejecting his right to object to the war on grounds of faith and conscience.  He did resign in 1918.  For the rest of his life, he served as a parish priest and a worker for peace.  Years later, Episcopalians came to celebrate his commitment to his own principles and willingness to sacrifice for what he believed.

Rev. Jack Bishop, Christine Camper, Alec Dingee, Betty Fraser, Bernice Herrick, Tony Lopes, Lynn McDonald, Rheta McKinley, Elsie Saunders, Eleanor Schott, Bishop Thomas Shaw, Kevin Smith, Ralph Ventola, Stephen Wagner and Charles Weaver.