St. James - Westwood Weekly Epistle
- Approaching the Second Sunday after the Epiphany (The Baptism of Our Lord)
Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.
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Crazy Quilt - 1870s-1880s made by Jennie C Ferguson
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The American Heritage Dictionary defines Crazy Quilts like the one pictured here
as patchwork of pieces of cloth
of various shapes, colors and sizes, arranged in no definite pattern." Some wise folks at the Nebraska State Historical Society point out that the artists who created crazy quilts didn't simply stitch the quilts panels together without a plan or design in mind. Quilters like Jennie Ferguson "elaborately planned and painstakingly decorated pieces of art that conformed to the fashion of the day which embraced opulence and asymmetry." (Nebraska State Historical Society, 2009, para. #2). I think that churches are often like crazy quilts. There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to why Jesus Christ's disciples and God's children gather and create community with one another. Sometimes it feels like there's no reasonable pattern to what's going on in terms of their worship or ministries. However, God's creative handiwork is certainly available when we gather to be with one another. St. Paul suggests to his readers that it takes a quilt-full of people with various Spirit-given gifts (teachers, preachers, healers, prophets, miracle workers, and others) to activate us as Christ's Body and blessing as The Church.
| The Rt. Rev. Douglas Hahn - Episcopal Bishop of Lexington
| The recently elected Bishop of Lexington, The Rt. Rev. Douglas Hahn, used the theme of "Quilting our Future Together" at his ordination service. He invited cathedral choirs, traditional Kentucky musicians, and a young persons' musical group to sing during the worship service. I bet that was a cool liturgy to participate in. Churches who diligently and faithfully invest their time, energy, prayer, patience, and talents into how they proclaim the Gospel, share the sacraments, and gracefully care for the world's common good are beautiful to behold and support. Artful preaching, teaching, worshiping, ministering excites us and our guests to love Jesus, one another, and our neighbors. Imaginative churches more fully adopt their faith and embrace God's transformational presence in their individual and common lives.I'd love to witness some more miracle workers join us here at St. James. I'd almost pay money to watch someone transform 20 gallons of water into wine like Jesus did at Cana in John's Gospel. However, I think we will benefit by gratefully sharing what gifts God has given us while fully understanding who God is beckoning us to be in this New Year and as Christ's presence brightly shines upon us in Epiphany Season. Our quilt of people and talents is colorful, diverse, and beautiful behold. However, there's plenty of room to invite other artists to stitch their presence into our parochial quilt of life, that sometimes is crazy yet divinely inspired and hopefully embraced. Let's weave some more patches into it this Sunday.
Blessings Along The Way, Jim+
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Check out our Photos from the Holidays
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