Mtr Taylor Devine

Dear Friend,

Today’s Gospel is about the power of the Holy Spirit - and it feels timely since just this Wednesday at Mosaic Community Night we were talking about the Holy Spirit at Baptism and beyond. In four small groups (three in person and one on zoom - we’re figuring out the hybrid but it worked well the past few weeks!) we spoke about where we have experienced the Holy Spirit in our lives, and who has inspired us to follow Jesus over the years and how. The conversation was lively and the pauses meaningful - it was a rich hour of listening and learning. The reading for this week’s Mosaic Community Night was about the Baptised life and it included references to scripture that animated our discussion. The one that has kept percolating throughout the week for me is this word of hope: “ I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work among you will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ.” (Philippians 1:6)

The chapter talked about what feels so central and basic to Christian daily living: investing in one another’s lives, tending to one another as a shepherd tends to her sheep, knowing and caring for the world, animated by the Spirit to do more than we could ask or imagine. The desire to follow God, the desire to pray, the desire to know the Spirit are seeds of growth that sometimes do the praying for us as we continue on the Way. Sometimes we are in the “beginning a good work” phase of things - or perhaps as the Benedictines say, “and always we begin again.”

Please pray for those who are preparing for Confirmation or Reception, for all those who are in a season of discernment, for those learning more about the Episcopal Church, and for long-timer Episcopalians open to continued growth and relationship, who gather on Wednesday nights in this season. As we invest in one another in the wider Parish community may the Spirit guide all of our steps.

In Christ,

Mtr Taylor