St. Martin's Church

April 19                                                                 Romans 8:1-11

 

I picked today's writing because it falls on Holy Saturday, the same day I will be baptized.  I'm very excited about it, already thinking about what it will feel like to be an Episcopalian, fully and completely.  One of the first parts of the adult baptism process was for Father Locke to ask me what brought me to my decision to be baptized.

 

I gave him a rambling answer, telling him about some of the highlights of the years I've been attending services and singing in the choir, here at St. Martin's.  But if I'm really honest, my road to baptism began much, much earlier than 2008, the year I first attended a service. 

 

It began with Cat Stevens.

Close my eyes and I can hear it still: those lovely cracks and pops of the vinyl, the beautiful music flowing out of my parents' living room speakers.

Morning has broken

Like the first morning

Blackbird has spoken

Like the first bird

 

It wasn't like the other folk songs on that record, or any folk song I'd heard.  It wasn't like the Hebrew songs I'd learned in Temple.  It was pure beauty.

 

Years later I was in a tiny Anglican church in Sydney, Australia, and discovered that the song I loved was a hymn!  Another decade later, I'm talking to Elke and Gail, telling them how much I've been loving the few St. Martin's services I'd been to, especially the music.  Elke urged me to come sing in the choir, and it just felt right. 

 

So I came to Episcopalianism, falling madly in love with the music first and the philosophy a close second, and the gorgeous stained glass in the chapel third.  To set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.  That resonates strongly with me, I love how my frenetic life pauses twice a week: Thursday nights for choir practice, Sunday mornings for the services.  I walk away from both with my heart still full of joy and song, and my mind blessedly still, quiet as it works on absorbing the lessons in the lyrics and the bible passages and the sermon. 

 

Walking with the Spirit is considered somewhat unusual these days.  I'm in Gen X, and nearly all my outside-of-St. Martin's friends are nonreligious or just barely acknowledging God in times of strife or the biggest holidays.  Maybe that's part of Gen X's identity, we're too cynical for anything more spiritual than our rants about how George Lucas ruined his own amazing movies with his terrible mid-90s edits.  But for those of us who do set our mind on things of the Spirit, peace and wholeness are ours.  I think I'll feel even more of that when I am baptized, and can take communion with all of you.

 

He who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also.  We are beings of light, flesh encasing a white flame of Spirit.  Remember that flame, and feed it through song, prayer, and meditation on the bible.  Thank you, Cat Stevens- sorry!  Thank you, Yusuf Islam, as you call yourself now.  I'm deeply grateful for the path you set me on, that led me to this warm and welcoming community.

 

PK Louve

phone: