Weekly Clergy Letter from Mother Anne Turner

Dear Friends in Christ—

 

I am here with you.

 

I am an adjunct professor of preaching at Virginia Theological Seminary.  At the beginning of our class meetings, my VTS colleague Ruthanna Hooke often leads students in voice warm-ups.  The goal of these exercises is to become fully present in the moment.  After stretching limbs and vocal chords, we finally arrive at this statement that we say together: “I am here in this room with all of you.”  I am here with you.

 

I realize that this statement is also the claim of the incarnation and the promise of Advent, which is the season we begin this coming Sunday.  God makes this claim to us: I am here with you.

 

Will we make this promise back to God?  To one another?

 

December is notorious for its distractions, and those distractions layer on top of already distracted lives.  I have recently been listening and reading about how fragmented our attention spans are.

 

In this season, more than ever, I encourage you to commit to practices of presence.  My own list this month is both challenging and life-giving.  I have resumed my “digital sabbath,” in which I avoid all screens on Monday, my day off.  (My friends have learned that I won’t see their texts!)  I have wrestled with my calendar to give myself better margins of time so that I can be fully present in the places where I need to be.  I have set up my backyard bird feeder, because watching birds is for me an exercise in living in the moment at hand.

 

My hope is that Grace Church can be a place of presence for you, too.  A week from tomorrow (on December 7), Mindy Van Wart and I are offering a quiet morning.  It is a chance to ground yourself in stillness for just a few minutes or for the entire morning.  You can also find beautiful worship—the quiet radiance of Lessons and Carols on December 8, or the much less quiet (but no less spiritual) Christmas Pageant on December 15.

 

I am here with you.  It is a challenge, but first and foremost it is a promise.  I hope we can embrace it.

 

Yours in Christ,

Anne