Pastor’s Corner “Introducing the Rev. Addie Anderson”

Merry Christmas!

Yes, it’s still the Christmas season, and this upcoming Sunday, January 4^th, is the second Sunday of Christmas. I’ll be away – I’m taking a few days to be with my family, and then I’m spending time on my annual silent retreat where I seek the Lord’s blessing and guidance for Immanuel for the coming year. Please pray for me.

Your celebrant and preacher on January 4^th will be the Rev. Addie Anderson, an Assistant Rector at Restoration Anglican Church, one of our sister churches here in the Diocese of the Mid-Atlantic. Pastor Sallie and I sat down with Addie for dinner at the Diocesan Synod. Both of us were impressed by her kindness, her gentle spirit, and her depth of intimacy with Jesus. She is one who has experienced several interruptions in her life as the intervening grace of God drawing her closer to himself and into her current ministry.

“CS Lewis once said that he was the most reluctant convert in all England,” she writes in her autobiography.  “I may have been the most reluctant seminary student. God’s calling was both the biggest and sweetest surprise I have ever known.”

Addie—who prefers to be called by her first name, but is comfortable with Pastor Addie as well—and her husband Dakota live in Falls Church with their two little boys, “heaps of books, and more yarn than I could knit in a lifetime, though I do plan to try (ask me to teach you!). You can find us playing board games, wandering nature trails, or watching old musicals.”

I’m grateful Addie accepted my invitation to lead you in worship and share God’s word with you while I’m away, and I’m confident you’ll welcome her and be ready to receive the gifts she brings.

Remember that this is the Sunday we will bless our Epiphany Chalk! While we will not be offering a worship service on Epiphany (January 6), I encourage you to mark the door of your home and pray the prayer of blessing that we will provide you on Sunday.

In preparation for Epiphany, this Sunday you will hear Matthew’s telling of the “Visit of the Wise Men.” They are a worthy example for all who would worship our King as we gather together this week: “As they offered gifts most rare/at thy cradle rude and bare/so may we with holy joy/pure and free from sin’s alloy/all our costliest treasures bring/Christ to Thee our heavenly king.” (from the hymn As with Gladness Men of Old, by W. Chatterton Dix).

Your Pastor in Christ,