Weekly Clergy Letter from Mother Anne Turner

Dear Friends in Christ,

 

Here in the week after Christmas, many of us are finally ready to contemplate the prospect of a new year.  All of those events that were “after the holidays” are suddenly at hand.  As January begins, we collectively pick up the abandoned threads of our lives, often with a start of surprise.  Oh, right, I needed to do that.  Oh, right, I meant to do that.

 

These remembered tasks often collide with our New Year’s resolutions.  Right, I want to do those things.  Right, I mean to be this way.

 

Amidst all of our good intentions falls the Feast of the Holy Name.

 

We observe the feast here on January 1 at noon with a Festival Eucharist. The holy day marks Jesus’s Jewish identity and the giving of the name chosen for him not only by Mary, but by God.

 

But to me it has also represented the act of naming, the way we give voice to our identities and aspirations.  As we celebrate Jesus’s name, we think about the words that matter in our own lives.  What will our identity be?  What will we be called?  Faithful one?  Compassionate?  Determined?  Creative?  Who has God asked us to be, and who do we want to become?

 

A few years ago, I was introduced to the practice of choosing a word to guide me during the year ahead.  I spend some time in prayer and reflection, and eventually a word emerges for me, one that reflects the need in my life and the hope in my heart.  That word is my companion in prayer until it’s time to choose a new one.

 

As you confront the New Year—resolutions, hopes, challenges, dreams—you may want to find your own word.  I invite you to this practice of holy naming.  Perhaps word that speaks to you could even emerge in liturgy on New Year’s Day; it might be a moment of clarity and new intention for you.

 

I pray for clarity, insight, and self-knowledge for us all this year.

 

Yours in Christ,

Anne+