Lead Article for Happenings Email, December 16, 2025
“You must be really busy at Christmas time.” This is a common question I receive when I have a conversation with someone who has just found out I am an Episcopal Priest. It always makes me chuckle. Because while Christmas is one of our two biggest services, it generally isn’t all that busy, compared to Holy Week and Easter it’s a breeze.
I say that, but I always add a caveat. Because, for whatever reason, people find Christmastide a really good time to die. It makes sense, it is one of those moments in the year when families all gather, and the effort to meet an come together is a little higher than it normally us. Kids have breaks, so are back from college, or at home with no school work to do. Work has slowed down a bit, and it becomes important to gather as a family.
Oftentimes our elders, grandparents and other matriarchs and patriarchs wait until these moments to leave this mortal earth. Now, please, don’t take this as me telling you, a member or friend of St. Ed’s that you should die. I don’t want that, in fact, the last couple years have been blessedly quiet when it comes to funerals and passing on.
I follow a whole slew of churches in the DIocese and in our Community, receiving their weekly or monthly emails and as part of that subscription I often receive updates about people who have died. Right now, in December, I get as many emails about people having died as I do spam emails companies I have shown interest in.
There is something about this time of year that people find as a good time to say good bye. But it has been different this year. In a really meaningful way. I have had more coffee meetings and lunch meetings and office meetings with people who want to know more about faith, and how to hold faith, and how to be faithful and whether or not to even believe than ever before.
These meetings have been with St. Ed’s member, with friends of mine who are seeking some sort of expertise, to community members who circle around this place but haven’t landed. Knock on wood, we haven’t had any funerals this December at all. Although we have had a lot of grief and sadness. Which is just as important to recognize as losing someone close to you.
Meaning, connection, deep meaning and deep connection. This is the next step I think we must begin to explore. One of my proudest moments, every week, is looking over the crowd of people gathered in the Gathering room after Church on a Sunday. The energy is vibrant, the cheer is clear. It is a good feeling. But I wonder if we are missing something, or rather, I wonder if we are ready to move into a new phase of fellowship and hospitality.
It is one thing to gather and talk, and celebrate and be with one another, but it is a whole other thing to be able to receive those people who are broken, those who are exploring, those who are searching for meaning, for love, or for answers. I wonder if 2026 isn’t the time, the moment where we take the next step in becoming radically hospitable, and don’t shy away from those who have tears in their eyes. Don’t shy away from those who ask hard questions about why we believe in God, or Jesus or the Spirit.
I wonder if we don’t look to 2026 as the year we become radically curious, and offer spaces where people can explore and be asked questions about what sort of meaning they are looking for. We have had several new faces show up off an on in the past several weeks. But many of those faces have not returned. I dwell on that a lot. What wasn’t compelling enough for them to desire to return? What did they not see that didn’t connect with their search for meaning?
We would have doubled the size of the congregation in 2025 if all the people who had showed up stayed. Not only that, we might even have a youth group, and strong youth and family ministry. But people need to stick around in order for these things to happen. As you gather on Sunday, after Church, ask yourself, how can I be curious, not in an obnoxious or over bearing way, but genuinely curious about the search for meaning that is happening right in front of our eyes.
As we move toward a new year, I hope we see this not as a problem to solve, but as a sacred invitation to listen more deeply, to welcome more fully, and to trust that God is already at work in the searching hearts among us. May we have the courage to meet God there.
I say that, but I always add a caveat. Because, for whatever reason, people find Christmastide a really good time to die. It makes sense, it is one of those moments in the year when families all gather, and the effort to meet an come together is a little higher than it normally us. Kids have breaks, so are back from college, or at home with no school work to do. Work has slowed down a bit, and it becomes important to gather as a family.
Oftentimes our elders, grandparents and other matriarchs and patriarchs wait until these moments to leave this mortal earth. Now, please, don’t take this as me telling you, a member or friend of St. Ed’s that you should die. I don’t want that, in fact, the last couple years have been blessedly quiet when it comes to funerals and passing on.
I follow a whole slew of churches in the DIocese and in our Community, receiving their weekly or monthly emails and as part of that subscription I often receive updates about people who have died. Right now, in December, I get as many emails about people having died as I do spam emails companies I have shown interest in.
There is something about this time of year that people find as a good time to say good bye. But it has been different this year. In a really meaningful way. I have had more coffee meetings and lunch meetings and office meetings with people who want to know more about faith, and how to hold faith, and how to be faithful and whether or not to even believe than ever before.
These meetings have been with St. Ed’s member, with friends of mine who are seeking some sort of expertise, to community members who circle around this place but haven’t landed. Knock on wood, we haven’t had any funerals this December at all. Although we have had a lot of grief and sadness. Which is just as important to recognize as losing someone close to you.
Meaning, connection, deep meaning and deep connection. This is the next step I think we must begin to explore. One of my proudest moments, every week, is looking over the crowd of people gathered in the Gathering room after Church on a Sunday. The energy is vibrant, the cheer is clear. It is a good feeling. But I wonder if we are missing something, or rather, I wonder if we are ready to move into a new phase of fellowship and hospitality.
It is one thing to gather and talk, and celebrate and be with one another, but it is a whole other thing to be able to receive those people who are broken, those who are exploring, those who are searching for meaning, for love, or for answers. I wonder if 2026 isn’t the time, the moment where we take the next step in becoming radically hospitable, and don’t shy away from those who have tears in their eyes. Don’t shy away from those who ask hard questions about why we believe in God, or Jesus or the Spirit.
I wonder if we don’t look to 2026 as the year we become radically curious, and offer spaces where people can explore and be asked questions about what sort of meaning they are looking for. We have had several new faces show up off an on in the past several weeks. But many of those faces have not returned. I dwell on that a lot. What wasn’t compelling enough for them to desire to return? What did they not see that didn’t connect with their search for meaning?
We would have doubled the size of the congregation in 2025 if all the people who had showed up stayed. Not only that, we might even have a youth group, and strong youth and family ministry. But people need to stick around in order for these things to happen. As you gather on Sunday, after Church, ask yourself, how can I be curious, not in an obnoxious or over bearing way, but genuinely curious about the search for meaning that is happening right in front of our eyes.
As we move toward a new year, I hope we see this not as a problem to solve, but as a sacred invitation to listen more deeply, to welcome more fully, and to trust that God is already at work in the searching hearts among us. May we have the courage to meet God there.
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