Dear ones of St. Columba's,

Do you remember the song "This is the song that never ends?" It was featured on the 1990s tv show Lamb Chop's Play Along, on PBS and I can remember singing it as a teen. The joke of course is that the last line and first line are the same so it loops and loops, and loops and...you get the idea.

Life can feel like a loop right now. We get up we do the same things we once again are in a surge, and we still can't connect in the ways we want. It is Advent and will be Christmas but, will it feel like it? Or will everything just feel like the song that never ends - looping over and over again? Are we stuck in place without going anywhere?

It helps me to think about our life right now not as a loop but as a spiral. When we teach the Godly Play story about the church calendar, we will sometimes talk about this - how endings make beginnings but every year as we begin again something has changed. We may encounter the same season, we may walk similar paths, but they are never exactly the same because you and I are always changing, growing, and learning. 

There is another kind of song that never ends - the song of love incarnated in Jesus Christ and always arriving in our lives in new ways. I hear this song even now, in pandemic, when I see how we care for each other, how each of you continues to show up to worship, support, and be church here virtually when you must and physically when you can, safely. I hear this song in the masks we wear, the plans your St. C's staff are faithfully making for Christmas worship, and in the hope we all hold for a spring that is different than our last. This song of love doesn't repeat itself on a loop, but instead has recurring themes. It can be loud or soft, depending on the moment and how ready we are to hear it, but friends, it doesn't end. God's song of love for us is always there.

Advent is one of our invitations to sit still and listen for it. 

I am grateful for each of you. Let's sing this song together, from wherever we are. 

with care and gratitude,

Alissa