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Rector’s Reflection: Coming Home
Two weeks ago, when our big U-Haul truck rumbled up to the rectory on Old Long Ridge Road, we were three hours late.
It was almost dark.
Yet there you were, St. Francis! Many of you were waiting patiently in the twilight for me and Heidi, her twin sister and our brother in-law, as we arrived from the long journey from Atlanta.
The lateness didn't matter. You were there, with food and laughter and strong arms and hugs for weary sojourners.
Open hearts. Open arms. Full of grace and joy.
A very Franciscan welcome!
As I said in my first sermon as your new rector last Sunday, I love how you live into your name, St. Francis.
In how you: feed the hungry; make music; inclusively offer prayer and comfort; walk gently with creation; build bridges across faiths; and offer courageous, beautiful hope to each other and the stranger in a world that seems so addicted to division and power right now. How you love as God's beloved!
You don’t just carry the name of Francis; you live Francis. You embrace like Francis.
As Sunday's lesson from the Book of Job reminded us, so much of this life is a mystery. I don’t know exactly how we found each other — this faithful, amazing community and me — but I know the Holy Spirit had something to do with it. And for that mystery, I am deeply grateful.
After a year in the city’s noise and hurry, to once again hear crickets’ song and feel the cool night breeze visit through an open window feels like grace itself.
Creation seems to whisper to me and Heidi: You belong. You are home.
And in that whisper, I also hear the voice of Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew: “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.”
To come home, then, is not only to arrive in a place, but to rest in Christ — the one who restores our souls, who welcomes us as we are, who turns exhaustion into peace and belonging.
This week, may we live into that same invitation — to be God’s dream for one another, where love is alive, and home feels like the very heartbeat of our Creator, Redeemer and life-giver.
You are amazing! You are beloved.
Faithfully,
Joe+
Joe's contact information is 203-322-2949 and JRose@stfrancisstamford.org. Please note that Monday is his well deserved day off!
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