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Growing Together in Christ-Centered Community
Breathe in the Life around Us!
Welcome to the season after Pentecost. Unlike the other seasons of the year, Advent, Epiphany, Lent, Holy Week, Easter, Pentecost, the season we entered after the celebration of Pentecost doesn’t have a time. It’s simply called “the season after Pentecost. In Church jargon it’s called “Ordinary Time”.
That doesn’t mean it’s “ordinary” – nothing special. The name reflects the Latin term for counted time – ordinal. And that is appropriate because we count off the weeks AFTER Pentecost – 25 of them. It’s the longest of all the seasons.
As with all the seasons, Ordinary Time has its own color – green. That seems very appropriate given the world around us that is leafing into the glory that is green and growing.
I’ve been talking the past couple of weeks about this idea of nurturing our lives, and this seems a fitting time to begin that process. Ordinary Time, a chance to begin to look at the growth we are experiencing, and the growth we’d like to see in our lives.
There’s something profound about Ordinary. That is where we live our lives. Vacations, tours, events, holidays add exclamation points to living.
But for most of our lives, we live in Ordinary times, and getting up, going to work, caring for our families, shopping, washing, cleaning. Ordinary tasks that are required of us. We live ordinary lives, and that’s a marvelous thing.
In Matthew 6:24-34 Jesus reminds us to be aware of the birds of the air and the lilies of the field, ordinary, everyday things that we often ignore. But as Jesus says, God takes notice, and perhaps we should too.
May I suggest that we can take more notice of the world around us. We can begin to turn the Ordinary of our lives and make our time Extraordinary. Here’s something to try.
Each morning when you are awake, find a view out a convenient window, that is pretty to look at. Drink in that view with your eyes, and as you do, take three deep breaths and breathe in the beauty of the world around you.
God has given us a paradise to live in where the Ordinary is the beauty that surrounds us and the simplicity of the lives we are blessed to live.
Look around and enjoy the blessings!
God Bless
Father Raymond+
Sign Blessing
Holy Cross celebrated the 14 th anniversary of the first service as a congregation on Mothers Day, May 10th. Mothers Day was celebrated by a breakfast cooked by Ray Tucker and the men of the church for the women of the church, but everyone got to eat. Following each service, the women of the church received carnations donated by Katie Myers in memory of her daughter Kathy Myers Freese, and ate a special cake baked by Carol DeFreitas.
At the conclusion of the 10 a.m. service, Father Adams Lovekin, the Vicar Emeritus of Holy Cross pronounces God’s blessing over the people of the Parish.
Father Adams Lovekin (right) and Father Raymond Raney bless the new sign for Holy Cross Episcopal Church in Edgewood. Father Lovekin was the founding vicar of the church and vicar emeritus of Holy Cross.
Following the service, many of those present joined Father Lovekin and Father Raymond Raney at the blessing of the Holy Cross sign. The sign was made possible by a grant from the McKee Foundation of El Paso, Texas.
Father Ads and Ann Lovekin stand for photographs after the blessing
(photos by Donna Lytton)
Welcome!!
Thank you for visiting our website.
The Parish of Holy Cross is a welcoming and inclusive community, blessed with members of all ages, from all sorts of backgrounds who contribute to the vibrant life and ministry of our parish family. We hope that our website will begin to introduce our church to you and give you a taste of the wonderful and varied ways in which we minister to each other and to the wider community. Our parish family extends throughout the beautiful East Mountains/Estancia Valley area of North Central New Mexico, just east of Albuquerque, an area encompassing over 1000 square miles of wooded mountains and grassy high plains. As you explore this brief introduction to Holy Cross, we pray that God will bless you and all those who are dear to you. We hope you take the opportunity to visit us in person. When you do, please know that you will be received with open hearts and a warm welcome.
For all the latest news and information from Holy Cross,
June Newsletter
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