CHURCH OF THE ASCENSION AND SAINT AGNES
  • Welcome
    • Newcomers
    • Frequently Asked Questions
    • How to Find Us
  • Who We Are
    • Our History
    • Parish Staff
    • Vestry
    • The Episcopal Church >
      • Episcopal Diocese of Washington
      • Episcopal News Service
  • Worship
    • Re-Gathering During COVID-19
    • Daily Office
    • Compline
    • Sermons
  • Formation
    • Children's Formation
    • Adult Theology
    • Adult Theology Archive
  • Connect
    • Pastoral Care >
      • Aging Gracefully
      • Prayer Requests
    • Stewardship >
      • Givelify Instructions
      • Planned Giving
      • Endowment Fund
    • Dare to Hope Blog
    • From the Desk of the Rector >
      • Pastoral Letter
      • Weekly Letter
      • Annual Meeting
    • Contact us
  • Outreach
  • Upcoming Adult Theology
  • Baptism

dare to hope

COUNTERCULTURAL CHRISTMAS ACTIVITIES: PONDERING

12/30/2020

0 Comments

 
Rev. Charles Hoffacker
Today is among the Twelve Days of Christmas, a period in our society that invites us to swim upstream. During this countercultural time we can engage in the countercultural practice of pondering.

The mother of Jesus is someone who ponders. She does so in response to the arrival of the Bethlehem shepherds. They report how that they learned of the child through an appearance of angels. What they say subsequently spreads to unidentified others. “But,” Luke’s Gospel tells us, “Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart.” (Luke 2:19)

Something similar happens many years later. Jesus, now twelve years old, becomes separated from his parents in Jerusalem; they find him conversing with teachers in the temple; he returns home with them and is obedient to them. This episode ends in a similar way. “His mother treasured all these things in her heart.” (Luke 2:51)

Mary did not let these challenging episodes pass on unexamined. Here—and probably on other occasions also—she pondered, assessing what had happened around her. We also need to assess our lives.

Dare to hope. And dare to ponder.
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020

    RSS Feed

    authors

    The Rev. Charles Hoffacker is a retired priest of the Diocese of Washington
    who lives in Greenbelt, Maryland. He and his wife Helena Mirtova are members of Ascension and St. Agnes.

    The Rev. Mary McCue, is a vocational deacon and currently ministers at Church of the Ascension and St. Agnes.
    ​
    The Rev. Dominique Peridans is the Rector of Church of the Ascension and St. Agnes. 

✜ Contact ✜
Church of the Ascension and Saint Agnes,
[Church]
1215 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
[Parish Office]
1219 Massachusetts Avenue, NW,
​Washington, DC 20005
202 347 8161
Email
​​✜ Social Media ✜
​Facebook
Twitter
YouTube

Newsletter
​
✜ Resources ✜
About Us
Directions
Giving
  • Welcome
    • Newcomers
    • Frequently Asked Questions
    • How to Find Us
  • Who We Are
    • Our History
    • Parish Staff
    • Vestry
    • The Episcopal Church >
      • Episcopal Diocese of Washington
      • Episcopal News Service
  • Worship
    • Re-Gathering During COVID-19
    • Daily Office
    • Compline
    • Sermons
  • Formation
    • Children's Formation
    • Adult Theology
    • Adult Theology Archive
  • Connect
    • Pastoral Care >
      • Aging Gracefully
      • Prayer Requests
    • Stewardship >
      • Givelify Instructions
      • Planned Giving
      • Endowment Fund
    • Dare to Hope Blog
    • From the Desk of the Rector >
      • Pastoral Letter
      • Weekly Letter
      • Annual Meeting
    • Contact us
  • Outreach
  • Upcoming Adult Theology
  • Baptism