April 15
Friends,
There are two events I would like to bring to your attention.
As you can see in this email, Fr Mike has offered our Gospel reflection and will be preaching this Sunday, the 3rd Sunday of Easter. I too will be at St. James. And this is a first. Fr. Mike has graciously been the supply clergy for me the past year and a half. When I have been away from St. James, he has graciously stepped in. This type of relationship with the prior rector is not always possible. I thank Fr. Mike for his work and support. If we had not experienced a global pandemic this past year, St James would have formally and festively welcomed Fr. Mike back in to our liturgical life. Instead, he unceremoniously returned so I could take a break last August after nearly a year without a Sunday off. And so, it is time that we, as we can, celebrate Fr. Mike’s return into our liturgical life, not just when I am away, but as a blessing when I am present as well. It has been a long time since I have sat in church and not had to preach. I look forward to his words of wisdom and growing ministry at St. James.
The other event is this. We are gathering a group of folks for an Inquirers' Class. Through conversational learning, we will explore what it means to be an Episcopalian. If you are new to the Episcopal Church and want to learn more about our history, liturgy, theology, and faith, then this class is for you. If you are interested in being Confirmed or Received as a member of the Episcopal Church this class is for you. If you are a cradle Episcopalian and you want to refresh things forgotten from your confirmation, this class is for you. We have not yet set a time or date. A small group of those interested in being confirmed/received is forming and the group will decide when we meet. If you are interested please email Fr. Mac at rector@stjamestaos.org.
New life is blooming all around us. Let us take time to see and Practice Resurrection.
Mac+
the Very Rev. Mac Brown
rector@stjamestaos.org
There are two events I would like to bring to your attention.
As you can see in this email, Fr Mike has offered our Gospel reflection and will be preaching this Sunday, the 3rd Sunday of Easter. I too will be at St. James. And this is a first. Fr. Mike has graciously been the supply clergy for me the past year and a half. When I have been away from St. James, he has graciously stepped in. This type of relationship with the prior rector is not always possible. I thank Fr. Mike for his work and support. If we had not experienced a global pandemic this past year, St James would have formally and festively welcomed Fr. Mike back in to our liturgical life. Instead, he unceremoniously returned so I could take a break last August after nearly a year without a Sunday off. And so, it is time that we, as we can, celebrate Fr. Mike’s return into our liturgical life, not just when I am away, but as a blessing when I am present as well. It has been a long time since I have sat in church and not had to preach. I look forward to his words of wisdom and growing ministry at St. James.
The other event is this. We are gathering a group of folks for an Inquirers' Class. Through conversational learning, we will explore what it means to be an Episcopalian. If you are new to the Episcopal Church and want to learn more about our history, liturgy, theology, and faith, then this class is for you. If you are interested in being Confirmed or Received as a member of the Episcopal Church this class is for you. If you are a cradle Episcopalian and you want to refresh things forgotten from your confirmation, this class is for you. We have not yet set a time or date. A small group of those interested in being confirmed/received is forming and the group will decide when we meet. If you are interested please email Fr. Mac at rector@stjamestaos.org.
New life is blooming all around us. Let us take time to see and Practice Resurrection.
Mac+
the Very Rev. Mac Brown
rector@stjamestaos.org
April 8
Friends,
Here we are. After Easter Sunday. But we are not after Easter. The 50 days of Easter and the 10 days after the Ascension all lay ahead of us before we can get back to Ordinary time. And so we are not past Easter, but now enter into the Second week of Easter as we hear this Gospel from John’s account of a few of Jesus’ resurrected presence in the midst of the disciples. And we hear of Thomas, the one called the Twin. But that’s not what we call him.
Thomas’ response to the resurrected Jesus coming to that upper room, through the locked door, after he was seen being taken from the cross and laid in the tomb, has led to Thomas being now named Doubting Thomas. But I think he is more appropriately known as the twin. Not least because it is Biblical, but because, if we are honest with ourselves, his reaction, is our reaction. The mystery of the Resurrection is so, yes, mysterious, that Thomas’ demand for physical proof is the twin of my own relationship with Jesus, and I am sure, you have those moment too.
But this is not so that we can take on some shame in a twin title, something like Doubting Mac. No, this is for us to reframe what doubt does. It is Thomas’ question, his doubt, that leads to the incarnation experience of touching the Risen Jesus. It is his curiosity that leads to Jesus again entering into the midst of them and sharing his Peace. Don’t get me wrong, some time passes too. But by honestly proclaiming his curiosity, Thomas led the disciples to more encounters with the Risen Jesus.
As we Practice Resurrection this Eastertide, maybe this is our call to sit with our questions, to invite Jesus into our curiosity. God may just appear.
In the Light of Christ,
Mac+
The Very Rev. Mac Brown
rector@stjamestaos.org
Here we are. After Easter Sunday. But we are not after Easter. The 50 days of Easter and the 10 days after the Ascension all lay ahead of us before we can get back to Ordinary time. And so we are not past Easter, but now enter into the Second week of Easter as we hear this Gospel from John’s account of a few of Jesus’ resurrected presence in the midst of the disciples. And we hear of Thomas, the one called the Twin. But that’s not what we call him.
Thomas’ response to the resurrected Jesus coming to that upper room, through the locked door, after he was seen being taken from the cross and laid in the tomb, has led to Thomas being now named Doubting Thomas. But I think he is more appropriately known as the twin. Not least because it is Biblical, but because, if we are honest with ourselves, his reaction, is our reaction. The mystery of the Resurrection is so, yes, mysterious, that Thomas’ demand for physical proof is the twin of my own relationship with Jesus, and I am sure, you have those moment too.
But this is not so that we can take on some shame in a twin title, something like Doubting Mac. No, this is for us to reframe what doubt does. It is Thomas’ question, his doubt, that leads to the incarnation experience of touching the Risen Jesus. It is his curiosity that leads to Jesus again entering into the midst of them and sharing his Peace. Don’t get me wrong, some time passes too. But by honestly proclaiming his curiosity, Thomas led the disciples to more encounters with the Risen Jesus.
As we Practice Resurrection this Eastertide, maybe this is our call to sit with our questions, to invite Jesus into our curiosity. God may just appear.
In the Light of Christ,
Mac+
The Very Rev. Mac Brown
rector@stjamestaos.org
April 1
Friends,
Here we are, standing in the shadow of the cross. If you are reading this on Thursday, Maundy Thursday, then we sit with Jesus in the upper room. He is reframing old images for us to see new life. He is exercising power in his humility as he washes our feet. He lovingly sends Judas on his way, even though it is so hard to understand, to be an agent of God’s love. It is on the eve of death and torture that God gives us the new mandate, the new commandment, to love as we are loved.
Let us be honest. Loving others as God loves us is hard. Really hard! First off it is hard because we are feeble creatures who find it truly unbelievable that God would love us, as we are, as we were created. So, if we can’t get our heads, but really our hearts, around that fact, then it is of course nearly impossible to love like God loves us. But that may have to do with what fantasy about love we have been allowed to believe.
For many, it is hard to see a loving God in these days of so much pain and torment. Whether I cited racial divides, or political divides, or religious divides, for many it is hard to see God in these days. But these holy days of ours, this Holy Triduum, Maundy Thursday through Good Friday and on to Easter Sunday asks us to do just that. Has this story become too cliche? God is betrayed, God is beaten, God is spat upon and mocked. God dies. And yet, this is where we followers of Jesus see the greatest glory, the overwhelming triumph of God’s love.
That fantasy I mentioned earlier, it is the fantasy that love removes hardship and pain. If we are honest we know that. We know that true love, REAL LOVE, walks with us through the pain. It does not empty life of its living, but gives us a focus that allows even the void to be full of life. God’s love is just that.
These days are our final days of preparation before God is lynched on a cross. These are the days that we see the power of Love over the forces of division and fear. These are the days that God uses our own violence for our own resurrection. This is our faith, to look into the cross and see the love of God.
Mac+
The Very Rev. Mac Brown
rector@stjamestaos.org
Here we are, standing in the shadow of the cross. If you are reading this on Thursday, Maundy Thursday, then we sit with Jesus in the upper room. He is reframing old images for us to see new life. He is exercising power in his humility as he washes our feet. He lovingly sends Judas on his way, even though it is so hard to understand, to be an agent of God’s love. It is on the eve of death and torture that God gives us the new mandate, the new commandment, to love as we are loved.
Let us be honest. Loving others as God loves us is hard. Really hard! First off it is hard because we are feeble creatures who find it truly unbelievable that God would love us, as we are, as we were created. So, if we can’t get our heads, but really our hearts, around that fact, then it is of course nearly impossible to love like God loves us. But that may have to do with what fantasy about love we have been allowed to believe.
For many, it is hard to see a loving God in these days of so much pain and torment. Whether I cited racial divides, or political divides, or religious divides, for many it is hard to see God in these days. But these holy days of ours, this Holy Triduum, Maundy Thursday through Good Friday and on to Easter Sunday asks us to do just that. Has this story become too cliche? God is betrayed, God is beaten, God is spat upon and mocked. God dies. And yet, this is where we followers of Jesus see the greatest glory, the overwhelming triumph of God’s love.
That fantasy I mentioned earlier, it is the fantasy that love removes hardship and pain. If we are honest we know that. We know that true love, REAL LOVE, walks with us through the pain. It does not empty life of its living, but gives us a focus that allows even the void to be full of life. God’s love is just that.
These days are our final days of preparation before God is lynched on a cross. These are the days that we see the power of Love over the forces of division and fear. These are the days that God uses our own violence for our own resurrection. This is our faith, to look into the cross and see the love of God.
Mac+
The Very Rev. Mac Brown
rector@stjamestaos.org
March 25
Friends,
Great news for Taos County this week as we have moved into Green.Great job everyone! And as we prepare to enter Holy Week, to finish our annual pilgrimage to the cross and through the empty tomb, I cannot think of a much more holy sign of resurrection in our midst than this progress in our fight against this virus.
With Taos Co being in Green, we will continue with in-person worship through Holy Week and Easter. You may make reservations using the link below. And, as I have written, this week, Palm Sunday, we will resume our weekly celebration of Holy Eucharist. Of course, we will continue with our masking and distancing protocols, and we will continue to utilize the prepackaged wafer and wine for some time.
We will of course continue to broadcast digitally all our services and continue to publish the live bulletin with prerecorded materials into the future as we navigate these days.
Our dear Bishop gave us a metaphor in his weekly update this week that I will unabashedly steal. As this new life begins to bud on the vine, let us persist in our self-sacrificial love for each other and not bloom too early. As we all know, a later bud and blooming tree can avoid the late frost. By being a bit more conservative can ensure that it will not be destroyed by a late freeze. St James is budding intentionally these days. We are only returning as we know we can safely. That may take a bit more time, but with the consultation of public health officials and guided by prayer, your vestry and clergy are ensuring that we will thrive with new life and multiple and varied blooms as we emerge from this pandemic winter.
Easter, new life, resurrection is just around the corner.
Mac+
The Very Rev. Mac Brown
rector@stjamestaos.org
Great news for Taos County this week as we have moved into Green.Great job everyone! And as we prepare to enter Holy Week, to finish our annual pilgrimage to the cross and through the empty tomb, I cannot think of a much more holy sign of resurrection in our midst than this progress in our fight against this virus.
With Taos Co being in Green, we will continue with in-person worship through Holy Week and Easter. You may make reservations using the link below. And, as I have written, this week, Palm Sunday, we will resume our weekly celebration of Holy Eucharist. Of course, we will continue with our masking and distancing protocols, and we will continue to utilize the prepackaged wafer and wine for some time.
We will of course continue to broadcast digitally all our services and continue to publish the live bulletin with prerecorded materials into the future as we navigate these days.
Our dear Bishop gave us a metaphor in his weekly update this week that I will unabashedly steal. As this new life begins to bud on the vine, let us persist in our self-sacrificial love for each other and not bloom too early. As we all know, a later bud and blooming tree can avoid the late frost. By being a bit more conservative can ensure that it will not be destroyed by a late freeze. St James is budding intentionally these days. We are only returning as we know we can safely. That may take a bit more time, but with the consultation of public health officials and guided by prayer, your vestry and clergy are ensuring that we will thrive with new life and multiple and varied blooms as we emerge from this pandemic winter.
Easter, new life, resurrection is just around the corner.
Mac+
The Very Rev. Mac Brown
rector@stjamestaos.org
March 18
Friends,
I hope you are all doing well. Here we are in the 4th week of Lent, looking toward the 5th week and beyond. I do not know about you all, but this Lent has seemed like it has lasted for over a year. Yesterday, I took Aloyse out for a lunch date. It was our first lunch date in over a year, because for the past year we have been, like everyone, eating all our meals at home. It was my first meal at a restaurant since October and my first inside a restaurant since last February. It was, at the same time, comfortable and uncomfortable, it was exhilarating and exhausting, it was normal and abnormal. I hope you are giving yourself and each other extra grace these days as we move through this 3rd phase of our pandemic life.
As I walked downtown, I was surprised to see so many people not wearing masks. These are not the days to cease maintaining our precautions. Yes masks are not the most comfortable, they fog your glasses, they impede voice communications, and they save lives. So please continue to wear your masks, wash your hands, and continue to sacrifice out of the sake of love. This week, I was informed by hospital administration that if New Mexico operated on a weekly statistical analysis, instead of the two week aggregation, that Taos County would have had to return to Red. Let us pray and practice our protocols so that we do not return to Red.
For our worship practices, I want to remind you that if Taos Co returns to Red, we will cease in-person worship. If we stay in Yellow or improve to Green, we will continue in-person worship. I have also received the phase 3 workbook from our Diocese. As your vestry prepares that workbook, and as we return to Green and better, you will start to see some transitions back to more in-person gatherings.
As I mentioned in previous blog entries, your worship committee, vestry, and staff have worked diligently to produce protocols that allow us to do this all as safely as possible. I was told by the same hospital administration that our distancing and no-contact protocols for worship are as good as they can be. It is because of that work that we will return to the weekly celebration of Holy Communion beginning on Palm Sunday, March 28. Regardless of Taos County’s red to green phase, because of our protocols, we will be able to celebrate and distribute communion every week.
As we enter the closing days of Lent, and the long-awaited closing days of this pandemic, let us gird ourselves for the difficult tedious days ahead. The way to the cross is fraught with off-ramps back to Egypt, just as the road out of this pandemic is fraught with off-ramps of ease and selfish choices. Our discipline as followers of Jesus, is to love others more than ourselves. We are called to allow our selves, these grains of wheat, to be buried by God to bring forth new life. I know it is hard, yet the end is so close. Easter is just around the bend.
Mac+
The Very Rev. Mac Brown
rector@stjamestaos.org
I hope you are all doing well. Here we are in the 4th week of Lent, looking toward the 5th week and beyond. I do not know about you all, but this Lent has seemed like it has lasted for over a year. Yesterday, I took Aloyse out for a lunch date. It was our first lunch date in over a year, because for the past year we have been, like everyone, eating all our meals at home. It was my first meal at a restaurant since October and my first inside a restaurant since last February. It was, at the same time, comfortable and uncomfortable, it was exhilarating and exhausting, it was normal and abnormal. I hope you are giving yourself and each other extra grace these days as we move through this 3rd phase of our pandemic life.
As I walked downtown, I was surprised to see so many people not wearing masks. These are not the days to cease maintaining our precautions. Yes masks are not the most comfortable, they fog your glasses, they impede voice communications, and they save lives. So please continue to wear your masks, wash your hands, and continue to sacrifice out of the sake of love. This week, I was informed by hospital administration that if New Mexico operated on a weekly statistical analysis, instead of the two week aggregation, that Taos County would have had to return to Red. Let us pray and practice our protocols so that we do not return to Red.
For our worship practices, I want to remind you that if Taos Co returns to Red, we will cease in-person worship. If we stay in Yellow or improve to Green, we will continue in-person worship. I have also received the phase 3 workbook from our Diocese. As your vestry prepares that workbook, and as we return to Green and better, you will start to see some transitions back to more in-person gatherings.
As I mentioned in previous blog entries, your worship committee, vestry, and staff have worked diligently to produce protocols that allow us to do this all as safely as possible. I was told by the same hospital administration that our distancing and no-contact protocols for worship are as good as they can be. It is because of that work that we will return to the weekly celebration of Holy Communion beginning on Palm Sunday, March 28. Regardless of Taos County’s red to green phase, because of our protocols, we will be able to celebrate and distribute communion every week.
As we enter the closing days of Lent, and the long-awaited closing days of this pandemic, let us gird ourselves for the difficult tedious days ahead. The way to the cross is fraught with off-ramps back to Egypt, just as the road out of this pandemic is fraught with off-ramps of ease and selfish choices. Our discipline as followers of Jesus, is to love others more than ourselves. We are called to allow our selves, these grains of wheat, to be buried by God to bring forth new life. I know it is hard, yet the end is so close. Easter is just around the bend.
Mac+
The Very Rev. Mac Brown
rector@stjamestaos.org