As we look forward to the quiet intensity of Advent at St Nicholas (lots of special music, but lots of time to reflect), we are thinking about how to get the word out about the special community we have, and how we hope to share it with more and more people.

Just for fun, we’ll be putting a few luminarias out in Advent; if you’re in the neighborhood you might see them, more each week. For the Christmas Eve services (4:30pm and 9:00 pm!) his probably won’t involve ladders, Father Manny, and a searchlight, but you never know.

From The Lead, an excerpted blog post by the Rev. Gary Hall, of ” Ah, Yes!”

Knowing and loving the church and this church as I do, I believe we do have something deep and compelling to tell those who live and work and study and play around us. We have to do a better job of letting them know that a liturgically serious, intellectually open, socially committed, pastorally engaged faith community like ours will provide a place to root themselves in the life of faith. I also know that we have to go deeper, together, on the journey of faith so that we can offer what we know with some credibility. It is my job to offer the language, the framework, the skills, and the trustworthy community in which we all can reflect on what God is doing within us and through us. It is your job to bring the depth of what God is doing within you to the conversation. Together we can find a way to be both spiritual and religious.

via The Lead

This is a clear call to action for those of us here at St Nicholas, especially with the Gospel message we heard today from the Daily Lectionary, and our renewed emphasis on reaching out, inviting, and welcoming.

Advent is a perfect time to put this in to motion: we can invite someone to visit St Nicholas, welcome a new person, and reach out to the larger community as we journey towards Christmas.

You will soon hear about opportunities to work with other faith communities to send “care” packages to members of our military, you can sign up to be a greeter and welcome newcomers, and yes, let’s talk about re-booting the Adult Education Discussion groups that many enjoyed. The Forward in Faith Day by Day booklets are usually available on the shelf as you enter the worship space.

As Jim Steen remarked this morning in his homily, “we have a very cool bishop!” Not only does he preach using an iPad (as it happens, this blog post was composed on one) but he preaches the eternal Gospel message to a modern age.

Let’s listen what he has to say, and put it into practice. What do you think?

At the 2011 Diocesan Convention, Bishop Lee charged the people of the Diocese to grow the church, form the faithful, and change the world in three specific ways during 2012.

“I want every member of this diocese to have at least one meaningful conversation in the next year with someone about their life and God. This is all evangelism boils down to. We’re good at conversations and evangelism happens one conversation at a time,” Lee said.

The bishop also asked the more than 600 people gathered to study the Bible. “Use Forward Day by Day, the Daily Office lectionary, an online resource such as the Speaking to the Soul blog at Episcopal Café. Join a bible study group –a great bible teacher in our church Verna Dozier used to say ‘No one should read the bible! They need to study it!'”

Lee’s third charge was for people of the diocese to participate in outreach–“the kind that involves you personally, something that involves relationship, something about which you need to learn something.”

Link: Home :: Episcopal Diocese of Chicago