June 29th Rector's Blog

Greetings Dear Parish Family:

I hope this message reaches you as your plans to gather for July 4th come into view. I hope you will join us this Sunday as we will have one worship service (in-person and virtual) at 10:00am only.

The Morning Prayer liturgy will feature familiar music from our nation's history and our Scripture Lessons are specifically prepared for Independence Day (p.732 BCP).

The ancient story of God's chosen people destined for another land reminds us that whether we have lived in one place our whole lives or whether we have moved many times, we are all "sojourners".
A sojourner is a person who resides temporarily in a place.

Hear the Word of God: "Love the sojourner, therefore, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt." (Deuteronomy 10:17-21)

No matter how deep and wide our ancestral roots are tied to a place, Christ has called us and adopted us into his Kingdom family where we are told to walk with him by faith and not only by sight.

A faith like Abraham who was "called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance." (Hebrews 11:8). A faith like the pilgrims who began the colonization of our great nation, seeking the freedom we have come to know as "one nation under God".

As believers, we should never interpret our freedom as something we have accomplished by ourselves. I am encouraged to hear of more people like myself returning home to Darlington. "Welcome Home" the sign says as you enter the city limits. Is this our true and final home?

The heroes of faith spoken about in the book of Hebrews, Chapter 11, were sojourners, settlers, and faithful believers in a community prepared not only by human hands, but by the hands of God. It is our human spirit that opens and cooperates with the Spirit of Truth, the Holy Spirit who guides us to our eternal home. Let us rest in this. Let us rejoice in this. Let us find peace in all that God is saying to his free and obedient people.

"These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on earth. For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for has prepared for them a city." (Hebrews 11:8-16)

Saint Matthew's Darlington faces the new-normal boldy, welcoming sojourners like we all are. We are becoming equipped by the finest Outfitter, in whom we have everything we need for the journey to our heavenly home, holding fast to Christ Jesus.

In His Love,
Rags+