Dear Beloved Ones,
Earlier this week, I had the chance to be in New York for the morning, and I took the opportunity to go by The General Theological Seminary. I sat in the Chapel of the Good Shepherd and turned back the clock 28 years. As the weeks draw ever closer to the beginning of my sabbatical, I found those few moments in the Chapel to be profoundly meaningful. I sat in the same spot where I would sit for Morning and Evening Prayer during my Anglican Studies year in the fall of ’96 and spring of ’97. I walked up and stood in the pulpit where I preached my “Senior Sermon” and sat in the officiant’s seat, where I led Evening Prayer for the first time.
As I was sitting there, I couldn’t believe how fast the time had gone. I remember as if it were yesterday, the day that Christina and I drove into the city in a U-Haul truck that was much larger than we needed, but it was the only truck they had. I remember our excitement as new friends helped us move our belongings into the apartment on a scorching day in August.
On our first night, we slept on a futon in the front room because we wanted to look at the Empire State Building, which we could see clearly from the window. We couldn’t believe that we were living in New York. What an amazing year it was!
During the spring term, I was tired and needed a break. A friend who had studied at Princeton Theological Seminary invited me to “get out of town for an excursion to Princeton.” I had never been and immediately took her up on the offer. We got off the Dinky and walked up Alexander, and our first stop was Trinity Church. The doors to the church were open for all to enter, just as they are today. We walked in and sat for a time of quiet and prayer. After looking around a bit, we stood before the central altar and then left for a walk around town. I had no idea that 11 years later, I would have the sacred gift and privilege of being your rector. What an amazing and blessed journey it has been. I still can’t believe it.
All of this is merely an introduction to what may seem like a rather insignificant insight. As I sat in the Chapel of the Good Shepherd, I looked to the wall above the altar and saw what I had seen a thousand times before - Λ and Ω with a beautiful stained-glass window in between.
All of our lives, all of our beginnings and all of our endings, and everything in between are held within the embrace of the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. Every second, every breath, all of our days and nights, all of the seasons, and all of the years of our lives are part of the ongoing story of God and God’s people. We are a part of the sacred tapestry, song, poem, painting, sculpture, and story that is the artistry of the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End of all that was and all that ever will be. How fast it goes! How fragile it can be. How precious it is! How sacred a gift!
“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.” (Rev. 22:13)
Easter Blessings to all!
Paul