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Rector’s Blog

Reflections and notes from the Rector of St. George’s, the Rev. Joseph H. Hensley Jr.

Notes from the Rector

Selected notes to the parish from the Rev. Joseph H. Hensley, Jr., rector of St. George's Episcopal Church.

Christmas and Epiphany Worship

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Christmas 2024December 2024 – Worship with us for Christmas and Epiphany.

On a wintry night long ago
A baby in a manger
Changed the world forever
When God reached out in a tiny hand
And showed us a new way of love.

 

Please note our office is closed December 23 – 27 and at 12 pm December 31 – January 1. If you have a pastoral emergency (e.g. death, hospitalization, or other crisis), please text or call 540.361.8573 to reach the clergy on call.

Christmas Eve, December 24: 

  • 4 pm: Christmas Story Pageant with carols, the Christmas Story, and Holy Eucharist. We will have a live feed available in Sydnor Hall.  This service also livestreamed on YouTube Live. Nursery is available. Service Leaflet.
  • 7:30 pm: Holy Eucharist with our Jazz Band and Choir. Festive music starts at 7 pm.  This service also livestreamed on YouTube Live. Nursery available.  Service Leaflet. 
  • 11 pm: Rite II worship with Holy Eucharist. Our choir and chamber ensemble perform festive music starting at 10:30 pm.  Service Leaflet. 

Christmas Day, December 25

December 29

January 5: Regular Worship and Formation Schedule Resumes

  • 7:45 am: Spoken Rite I Holy Eucharist
  • 9 am: with Jazz Band and Choir also livestreamed on YouTube Live
  • 11:15 am: with organ and choir
  • 5:30 pm: Celtic Evensong

January 6 – Epiphany Worship – Canceled Due to Inclement Weather

  • On January 6 we will celebrate Epiphany with our friends and neighbors at Trinity Episcopal Church (825 College Ave, Fredericksburg, VA 22401). The fun begins with a chili cook-off and dinner at 6 pm at Trinity in Barber Hall (lower level) followed by worship at 7.15 pm. More details to follow.

Update on Our Search for an Associate Rector

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As you have heard, we are now in the process of searching for our next Associate Rector. Fr. Will’s last Sunday will be August 25 before his wedding on August 31. We look forward to celebrating his ministry with us over the past four years and wishing him well in the next chapter of his life and ministry.

I want to share an update on where we are with the search process. As of last week, we posted a position description through the Diocese of Virginia and will be sharing in other places around the Episcopal Church. You can see that description here. Feel free to share this with people you know around the Church. Note that we have included in the posting that we are looking for someone who has been a priest in a parish for a few years. We are also open to someone coming to serve for a few months as an interim in order to give us more time for a search.

I also had an initial meeting last week with the group that I have asked to serve as an ad-hoc advisory committee. This group includes Michele Prout Alston (Senior Warden), John Graham (Junior Warden), Mac Smith (Grounds Warden), Jennifer Vaughan (vestry), Vicki Harrison, and Joseph Lyttle. When she returns from sabbatical in early July, Laurel Loch (Chief of Staff), will also be part of this group. I chose a group that would not be too large and would include our lay leadership as well as people who represent much of the variety within our congregation. We talked about the importance of keeping you informed along the way and inviting your feedback. Although the hiring decision is mine as Rector, I am listening carefully to the input of others and praying for the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

Here is a brief outline of the process:
I will receive the initial inquiries and have introductory conversations with candidates that seem promising. From there, I will invite members of the advisory committee to participate in Zoom conference calls with some candidates. Then we will invite a finalist or perhaps two finalists to visit St. George’s before I make a decision. The Diocese of Virginia staff advisor to these searches, the Rev. Shirley Smith-Graham, is helping us find candidates and will also help us do background checks and other vetting before the agreement is finalized and announced. We will accept candidates as long as we need to until a hire is made (and only God knows how long it will take).

Our committee is working on a survey. We want you to share some thoughts about your hopes for St. George’s, generally, and your hopes for our next Associate Rector. We hope to have that out in the next couple of weeks. I will also hold a parish-wide forum on Sunday, June 16, after the 10 am service in Sydnor Hall. We can talk about this process, and I will also have an update on the capital campaign this Fall and where we stand on those plans (more on that separately).

Above all, please pray for this process. I trust that God is guiding us and candidates. At its best, a search process is an opportunity to clarify who we are and who we hope to become, with God’s help. May all we do be pleasing and delightful in God’s sight and in service of sharing the love of Christ.

 

Your rector and brother in Christ,
Joe+

Sermon for July 2, 2023

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The Rev. Rosemary Beales gave this sermon on July 2, 2023.

Sarah laughed, they say. Sometimes I think, that’s ALL they remember about me. That and my long, long life.

I don’t laugh anymore.

You just heard the story of the worst day of my life. Did you notice that I am not even mentioned in the story? All the drama, all the horror, and finally the mercy, are there. …..But so am I.

I am used to being unseen, unheard – so I want finally to share my whole story with you—the laughter and the tears. You have to hear the whole thing to understand the part before you today.

I met Abram when I was just a girl whom everyone called “Princess.” That is, after all, what my name means. Nowadays, “Princess” makes little girls think of castles and ponies. But we were a nomadic people, so instead of castles, we lived in tents. We moved often, following the seasons, for water and pasture for our flocks.

I was still young when I married Abram, and as custom dictated, his life became my life. I traveled where he traveled and lived where he lived. I even worshiped his God.

After one of those long walking journeys, following the Euphrates River, we became comfortable in the land of Haran. Then one night Abram just had to walk to the edge of camp and stare into the vastness of the desert – what he was looking for, I’ll never know. But he came back all excited, bursting with energy and ideas. “The Holy One has spoken to me!” he said. Then came a flurry of gathering and sorting and packing, and the next thing I knew we were on the road again. We had servants, of course, to do the heavy lifting and care for the animals we drove into the desert with us. No one had to mind the children, for Abram and I had not been blessed.

And now, Abram was alight with the promise he said God had given – that he would be the father of a great family, a huge nation. “I will bless you, and you will be a blessing,” God said. But how were we to fulfill this dream? for we remained childless.

Still, off we went, traveling to . . . who knows where? Our God had told my husband simply, “Go to the place I will show you.” No guide, no map, no river to follow this time. Along the way, my husband insisted on climbing hills and meeting with the Holy. I was never privy to their conversations, but sat with our flocks in Shechem, while he came back full of new plans.

Finally, we made a home in Hebron; I remember that place well, as it was the longest we ever stayed in one place. Still, Abram kept getting these messages from God: “I will make your descendants like the stars in the sky and grains of sand in the desert.”

And the baby blankets I had stowed away for so many years went unoccupied.

Then, it was my turn to have a bright idea! I had a maidservant, Hagar, and it occurred to me that if God was not going to grant me a child, this woman might be the answer to prayer. Any child she conceived with Abram would be legally mine. The burden of my barrenness would be lifted.

The minute she conceived, though, Hagar began to look down on me. I did not need the condescension of an Egyptian girl young enough to be my daughter. I’m not proud of this, but I was so irritated by her glowing pride and her growing belly that I’m afraid I treated her unkindly. “Harassed” is the word she used as she ran away from me – taking her chances in the desert, I guess, was better than living securely under my roof, under my thumb.

Next thing I knew, she was back again, claiming that an angel had told her to return and promised her that her son – HER son – would thrive. She did indeed give birth to Ishmael, and I tried – I really tried – to accept them both. What happened to them later is a story for another day, and one I’ll always deeply regret.[1]

Years went by before, once again, the Lord enchanted Abram with his ridiculous promise: descendants without number, and this time even a mention of ME. Not from the Egyptian girl, but from ME, would these progeny proceed.  Even Abram laughed at that! But God changed our names anyway – he became Abraham – father of a nation — and I was still “Princess” but with a new pronunciation.

One day, while Abraham was lounging outside our tent, three strangers appeared out of the wilderness.  My husband welcomed them and offered hospitality – a vital custom among those who travel through stony deserts.  He offered them a resting place, a little water, a bit of bread – but then commanded his servants – and ME – to conjure up a lavish repast. While he and the strangers ate, and talked, I stood inside the tent, for I knew my place. And then, one of the strangers said the strangest thing . . .”and your wife, Sarah, will have a child.”

HA! I laughed. Of course, I laughed. Wouldn’t you? Even though my reported age – 90 years old! – is a wild exaggeration, I was still too old to have a child, and I knew it. This was not the gay laughter of girlhood, but a harsh exhalation that tasted like ash.

Then, “Is anything to wonderful for the Lord?” the stranger said, and against all logic, all experience, hope began to rise in my heart again. And against all expectations, a seed began to grow within me. And – miracle of miracles, a CHILD was born to us, a son was given.

I laughed again – this time, it sounded like a lullaby – and we named our son Laughter, Yitzhak. He was the fulfillment of our hopes, the firstborn of the hundreds of thousands, the sign of God promises. We welcomed that child – oh, how we welcomed him as if we were welcoming God’s own self!

Thirteen years later, I was there when Abraham had his strange night vision. I could only hear his side of the conversation; but from what I gathered, God was demanding that Abraham take our son, our only son, Isaac, and SACRIFICE – him on a mountain. What mother would let such a thing happen?

Some say that I followed them on their three-day journey, prepared to intervene. But no. In my own way, like Abraham, I trusted that the Holy One himself would intervene. I just gave Him a little help. All I did was to simply release Abraham’s favorite ram, the very best one, whom he loved, and hope that it would find its way to that terrible altar.[2]

So I wasn’t there to witness the angel staying my husband’s hand, pointing out the white ram, freeing my beloved son. Rather, I waited in the tent, terrified, until my boy came back down the mountain. I thanked God for his mercy. But after that trauma, I never laughed again.

Generations later, one of our many promised descendants, made a similar journey up a similar mountain. You know well Jesus of Nazareth, and how his story ended – and began again.

It was he who taught you about welcome, and about sacrifice of a different sort. The self-sacrificing love at the heart of his being and of his hope for you, his Church. That love means you can welcome others without fear, knowing that you are welcoming the Holy One himself – the One who said, “I desire mercy, not sacrifice” –thanks be to God!

Amen.

[1] Gen 21:9-21, heard previous week.

[2] Based on midrash and my own imagination – it is not in scripture, but it seems plausible!

 

Sermon for June 11, 2023

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The Rev. Joseph H. Hensley, Jr., rector of St. George’s, gave this sermon on June 11, 2023.

Matthew 9:9-13, 18-26
As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth; and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he got up and followed him. And as he sat at dinner in the house, many tax collectors and sinners came and were sitting with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” But when he heard this, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.” While he was saying these things to them, suddenly a leader of the synagogue came in and knelt before him, saying, “My daughter has just died; but come and lay your hand on her, and she will live.” And Jesus got up and followed him, with his disciples. Then suddenly a woman who had been suffering from hemorrhages for twelve years came up behind him and touched the fringe of his cloak, for she said to herself, “If I only touch his cloak, I will be made well.” Jesus turned, and seeing her he said, “Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well.” And instantly the woman was made well. When Jesus came to the leader’s house and saw the flute players and the crowd making a commotion, he said, “Go away; for the girl is not dead but sleeping.” And they laughed at him. But when the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took her by the hand, and the girl got up. And the report of this spread throughout that district.

It was quite the day for Jesus! In this Gospel reading we just heard there is so much going on, and we even skipped some of it, because it just would have been too much to digest. Jesus and his disciples were guests in someone’s home, maybe the home of the former tax collector Matthew. And there were some other tax collectors and some people named as “sinners” for reasons that are not made clear. Then the Pharisees show up patrolling like purity police, interrogating Jesus’ disciples: “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” And then Jesus heals a woman and raises a girl from the dead. I don’t know if he went back to eating dinner after all that or if just went to bed!

But even with all that is going on, Jesus is unflappable! Amid all the controversy, all the strange things that keep happening around him, Jesus knows just what to say and do. When the Pharisees want to know “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” Jesus finds just the right scripture to quote. The Pharisees thought that a respectable religious teacher would not allow himself to be tainted associating with unclean and immoral people. This would not be pleasing in the eyes of God. As calm as can be, Jesus whips out the prophet Hosea, chapter 6, verse 6: “I desire mercy not sacrifice.” That whole verse from Hosea reads “I desire mercy, not sacrifice, the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.” Jesus gently instructs the Pharisees that God is more pleased with mercy, with faithful love, than with pure offerings or pure people. And that is Jesus’ core message throughout the Gospels. “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.”

I wish, sometimes, that I could be as unflappable as Jesus. This week, a sort of strange thing happened when from my office I could hear the voice of someone speaking loudly and somewhat aggressively down the hall. He was interrogating the front office staff, and his question and tone was like the Pharisees. “Why are you doing what is not pleasing to God?” Only his actual question was about why St. George’s celebrates people who are LGBTQ+. “Doesn’t the Bible teach against that?” he wanted to know. Actually, I don’t think he wanted to know anything, he just wanted to cast judgment. And I wish that, like Jesus, I could have quoted Hosea 6:6 to him, but in the moment, a verse did not come to mind. I was too concerned with trying to be friendly and moving us away from the office door to the reception area where we talked for a few minutes. I will add that this is someone I have a relationship with, someone who has in the past had a relationship with our parish. So we were not strangers to each other. After a few minutes of him interrogating me and questioning my morals and leadership and me trying to answer his questions honestly and accurately (“No, Jesus never said anything about gay people.” “Yes, I believe it’s okay for people of the same gender to be married.”), I said to him, a little flustered by his aggressiveness, “We’re not going to agree about this,” to which he replied, with surprising gentleness, “I know.” So I invited him outside into the graveyard, and we prayed for and with each other before he went his way and I went back inside. I spent the next little while, as one does, wishing I had said this or done that. I think I did the best I could under the circumstances. I was calm. I was loving. I remembered to pray, which even we priests forget sometimes. And I tell this story, because someone might ask you why our church has a rainbow on the graveyard fence. Why are we celebrating Pride Month? Why does our church say that people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, non-binary (and the other related identities in LGBTQ “Plus”)…why do we say they are wonderfully made in the eyes of God? “Why does our congregation say you can belong here, and you can even be in positions of power and influence when some churches label you as “sinners?” Some of us may have those very questions in our own minds and hearts today. It is not wrong for someone to have those questions, if they are actually questions and not veiled condemnation. I want St. George’s to be a place where we can hang out in these cracks together with curiosity and love and prayer, because Jesus hung out in these kinds of cracked places too, these places of controversy. I share this story and these questions, because they are real, and especially because they point to some really Good News! When Jesus was questioned by the Pharisees who condemned certain people as sinners, he reminded the Pharisees, the so-called experts in religion, of the message that had been preached centuries before, that God desires and delights in mercy more than sacrifice. God delights more in our compassion than in our purity. God delights more in transforming love than in religious perfection.

The text says that Jesus ate with sinners and tax collectors, but the text doesn’t give us a lot of clues as to who these “sinners” were. Were they people who had actually done immoral things? Not always. In the religious mindset of Jesus’ time, there were all kinds of people who got labelled as sinners simply because they seemed deficient or impure or strange in some way. Maybe they were sick, like the woman who thought if she could just touch Jesus’ cloak, she might be saved. Or maybe they were disabled like the paralyzed man whom Jesus healed in the verses immediately preceding the ones we heard today. Before he heals that paralyzed man, Jesus actually tells him his sins are forgiven. Jesus challenges the belief that if people have difficult circumstances, they must have done something sinful to deserve them. Jesus says, “I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.” I think Jesus is calling anyone whom religion labels as “sinners,” for whatever reason, rather than those whom the religion labels as “righteous” because of some outward appearances. Jesus is calling all those whom religion has said are undeserving of grace to come and get it. Come and get some of the good stuff! Now let me be clear…we are all sinners. We all fall short and miss the mark. And because God has given us the grace, we can all repent and receive forgiveness. But sometimes, some of us get labeled as being “special sinners” when really it’s because someone has decided that we need to be singled out. When someone says, “It’s because the Bible says so, period.” And Jesus is calling those people who are labeled as special sinners to be his friends and followers. And, by the way, I am happy anytime to talk more about what the Bible says and does not say, because it is an amazing, complicated, set of writings through which God can and does speak. And I believe that it is dishonoring the Word of God to use it to diminish someone’s humanity. The churches and people in the churches have too often sinned, have fallen short and missed the mark, by just saying, “The Bible says so, period.” Right now, there are some churches and people with power who I believe are sinning and missing the mark, missing the transforming love of God in this world by promoting unfounded fears and suspicions, by silencing voices, by doing harm to LGBTQ+ people, especially trans people, and their families just because “The Bible says so.”

I’m preaching this, and we’re putting the rainbow colors on our fence, we’re celebrating Pride, not because we want to be part of a culture war. We’re doing this because we want to be part of the covenant that God made with Noah generations ago never to destroy the earth again, and we want to be part of a world where we do not destroy one other ever! But we still have Good News to share. That’s what that rainbow out there says, that we have good news to share. The Bible also says that Jesus ate meals with and called as disciples the very people who, in his time, were told they were less than fully beloved of God. Jesus quoted the scriptures again and again which emphasized mercy and love over purity and so-called perfection. Jesus wants to know, not whether we are perfect, but whether we have revealed the love of God, the mercy of God, in our lives. Jesus turned and saw the faith of the suffering woman who believed that if she touched his cloak she would be healed and saved. Jesus turns and sees and loves all of us. All of us. Jesus sees that we too have a faith, given by God, which can already heal us, and save us, and deliver us. It does not matter how much we may “feel” that faith today, that faith has brought us here today. It’s why we are sitting here. And we are here to turn and see and help one another to nurture that faith. We are here to turn and to see and to say to one another with Jesus, “take heart, your faith has made you well,” now go…go and act on that faith, go and share that faith in ways that build one another up and which bring God’s reign of love into the cracked places of our world Go and learn, go and teach, go and live what this means: “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.”

Mourning and Responding in the Aftermath of Recent Mass Shootings

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On Sunday, May 29, Pastor Joe Hensley offered a space after the morning service for people to gather and share how they are feeling in the aftermath of recent mass shootings and to share ideas for potential individual and collective action. About 15 people participated in person and on Zoom.

 

Initially, people just shared personal feelings and perspectives. Later we shared thoughts about action. The group wanted the wider congregation to know both their appreciation of having a space to reflect together as well as some of the ideas that were presented.

 

These are listed as possibilities for fellow St. Georgians to receive and consider. As followers of Jesus, called to love our neighbors, we can work, individually and collectively, to create a community and a society that values every human life just as God does.

 

  • The Episcopal Public Policy Network is a resource which offers recommended advocacy actions based on our Episcopal faith and previous actions of the General Convention of the Episcopal Church.
  • Create a culture in our local community as well as in the larger society that values human dignity and life, so that if someone is threatening to harm others, people will respond and intervene.
  • Check in on your neighbors more often
  • Recognize that many of the perpetrators do not have a sense of belonging in their lives. Community is so important.
  • There are no short-term, quick fixes for deep hatred
  • We need more mental health services and better health care system in general. Look at disparities across different demographics. There is a mental health crisis in the African American community.
  • Hold space, personally and in community for feeling angry, sad, scared, worried.
  • Check in with teachers and educators in our community to show them our support
  • Recognize that Jesus rarely found support from politicians, so we can’t rely solely on politicians to do our work for us
  • Wear orange as a sign of support for gun-control measures
  • There is going to be a march in Washington, D.C. on June 11
  • Be aware of our own violent words and our exposure to violence in media
  • Be there for each other and support each other
  • Avoid extremist rhetoric
  • Examine what leads to a rage culture
  • Challenge stereotypes of mental illness: most mentally ill people do not hurt people. Many murders are committed by people who are not mentally ill.
  • Learn to regulate our nervous systems through somatic practices
  • Write letters to the editor
  • Post helpful comments and resources on social media about evidence-based strategies for reducing gun-violence

If you are struggling and would like to speak with a member of clergy, please contact our church office.