Dear Friends,
I am the fourth generation priest in my family. With that comes all sorts of predictable complications and even more stories! When I was a little girl, growing up at Christ Church, Alexandria, Virginia, my father would get up in the wineglass pulpit, look out at parishioners and tell the same old story of the same Christmas pageant… every single year. My sister and I would look on from our regular pew and roll our eyes. The congregation would chuckle—they knew what was coming.
When I served my first parish in Westport, Connecticut, I bounded up into the pulpit the first week of Advent and what do you know… I told the same story. Sometimes growing up simply means accepting that some of the things your parents did that embarrassed you… are alright. And so the story goes:
The day of the Christmas pageant arrived and volunteers were busy in the parish hall wrangling four-year-olds in sheep costumes Everyone knew their lines. Anxious parents twisted pipe cleaner halos. Joseph and Mary got comfortable maneuvering the oversized wooden donkey, fondly named Harold by the fourth grade class that had once constructed the beast on wheels. A few minutes before the show was to start, the director received news that the ten-year-old boy slated to play the innkeeper had strep throat. Like all good pageant directors, she had a plan for every possible scenario. You see, weeks before, when all the big parts were handed out, a squirrely little seven-year-old boy named Jay-Griff found out that he would have to play a shepherd for the third year in a row. As a way of appeasing this earnest young man, the director made Jay-Griff learn the lines to every part. He was the official understudy… for everyone.
When the day arrived and the innkeeper called in sick, Jay-Griff got his turn under the bright lights and he was thrilled. He put on the costume, which was several sizes too large and with a huge grin, made his way up to the stage to hide out behind the cresh. And so it began, Joseph and Mary and their donkey Harold meandered up the aisle. The choir sang “O Little Town of Bethlehem” and they finally arrived at the makeshift innkeeper's door. Joseph, looking exhausted by the journey and knowing that he would soon be rejected by the innkeeper for a warm bed, knocked three times.
Suddenly, the door swung wide and there was Jay-Griff with a grin the size of West Texas. Joseph inquired if he had any room, and without missing a beat, with open arms, Jay-Griff shouted “Oh yah, come on in!” The congregation erupted in laughter. The Director kept her composure. Joseph and Mary played along and as it turns out, for the first time in human history, the Innkeeper let the Holy couple rent a nice little room inside the inn!
A silly story? Certainly. But it will always be my favorite. I love the idea of Jay-Griff, arms open wide, breaking the rules and welcoming Joseph and Mary. It reminds me of the way Henry Nouwen described the father in the Prodigal Son, swinging wide the doors of his home, racing down the lane to greet his long-lost son. It embodies what I admire the most about people who give their life to working with those the world so often chooses to ignore. In some small way, it is the spirit with which I try to welcome people into my own home.
Last year, I traveled to West Texas to meet a man that my parents had encountered on one of their roadtrips. “He’s the real thing,” dad said. “You’ve got to get out there and see what Mike is doing.”. And so I left Washington, DC, flew to El Paso, and drove out to Marfa to spend a few days with The Rev. Mike Wallens and hear about his work with asylum seekers and indigenous people at the border. On that trip, I also had the privilege of meeting with The Rev. Lee Curtis, the Cannon to the Ordinary in the Diocese of the Rio Grande, The Rev. Tina Rathbone, the founder of the Bridge Chaplain Ministry and several other members of the team at the border.
I am not overstating when I say, meeting Mike was like meeting a grown up Jay-Griff, the innkeeper. The work that Mike, Bishop Michael Hunn and the Dicoesean team are doing to care for people living at the border is defined by generosity, openness, and grace. I have been around the church for a long time… and in my 46 years, I can be a tough judge. What I found in West Texas is the best of what the church is doing in the world.
On this Giving Tuesday, I hope you will consider an end-of-the-year gift to Rio Grande Borderland Ministries. Your gift will go to buy blankets and food for people living on the streets and in the five shelters Borderlands supports from Juárez down to the Big Bend region. There is nothing overly complicated about this ministry. It is what Mother Teresa called doing “ordinary things with extraordinary love.”
These are complicated days for giving. I find myself engaging with more and more people living on the streets of Washington, DC and giving to local food banks and shelters. While stocks may be soaring, the poor and the disenfranchised are suffering in ways that most of us cannot see. For many of you, the borderlands are a long way off, and RGBM is an organization whose ministry you may never personally encounter. All I ask of you, and speaking as a priest in the church, all God asks of any of us, is to approach our giving this year with the same kind of generosity and goodness that seven-year-old Jay-Griff offered the Holy Family.
Warmly and faithfully,
The Rev. Maryetta Anschutz
Neighbor to Neighbor Learning Event: December 5th, 2020
The Episcopal Diocese of the Rio Grande invites you to consider a new way for DRG Congregations to support asylum seekers as we partner with Episcopal Migration Ministries in being a pilot diocese for the Neighbor to Neighbor program.
Neighbor to Neighbor is a new network designed to connect asylum seekers with Episcopal congregations in local communities across the US. Led by Episcopal Migration Ministries and the Rev. Cristina Rathbone, Neighbor to Neighbor seeks to provide a way for Episcopalians to accompany, assist and support asylum seekers who live close to them, and is committed to offering congregational groups training and support as their relationships with these newest neighbors develop and grow.
To learn more, please come to our Neighbor to Neighbor learning event on Saturday, December 5th at 10:00-11:30 AM MT. To register for the event, click here:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0kcO6tqz8sHN2za3S1WAmQhpbV-Q_IC9wy
For any additional questions, or cannot make this event, please contact DRG Bridge Chaplain Ana Reza at areza@dioceserg.org.
Sin Fronteras Reading Group, Co-Led By Padre David Ulloa Chavez, Missioner for Border Ministries for the Episcopal Diocese of Arizona and The Rev. Mike Wallens, Co-Chair of Rio Grande Borderland Ministries
Over the course of six weeks, we will read, reflect, and pray for the humanitarian crisis unfolding on the US/Mexico border. Our primary text will be Miguel de la Torre’s book The Immigration Crisis: Towards an Ethics of Place. The group’s second meeting will be today at 2:30 MST. We hope to see you there! NOTE: The Diocese of Arizona is hosting these Zoom sessions at Mountain Standard Time (MST). Since, daylight savings has passed, Mountain Standard Time is now in line with Mountain Time. Today’s meeting will be at 2:30 MST (2:30 MT/3:30 CST/4:30 EST). We apologize for any confusion regarding time differences! Below is the Zoom information for the Sin Fronteras Reading Group. To learn more about the reading schedule, please see the full lesson plan here. Questions? Email David at david@azdiocese.org or Mike at michaelwallens@gmail.com
Episcopal Diocese of Arizona is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: Without Borders Reading Group
Time: Every 2 weeks on Wed, 7 occurrence(s)
Oct 28, 2020 02:30 PM - (Mountain Standard)
Nov 11, 2020 02:30 PM- (Mountain Standard)
Nov 25, 2020 02:30 PM- (Mountain Standard)
Dec 9, 2020 02:30 PM- (Mountain Standard)
Jan 6, 2021 02:30 PM- (Mountain Standard)
Jan 20, 2021 02:30 PM- (Mountain Standard)
Feb 3, 2021 02:30 PM- (Mountain Standard)
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84481427404?pwd=ODI1RDBydmVWUGpkblpWY1JrUG8wQT09
Meeting ID: 844 8142 7404
Passcode: borders
Join with EMM this season and share your support and welcome. The EMM apparel fundraiser includes multiple styles for adults and children. The fundraiser can be accessed at bit.ly/weareemm and will close on December 1.