Story by the Rev. Cn. Debbie Low-Skinner, Photos by the Rev. Cn. Debbie Low-Skinner and the Rev. Rebekah Hays Estera
Here are photos from the Sunday, Feb. 4 livestream of the Holy Eucharist at Holy Trinity Church in Menlo Park, where the Rev. Deacon Rebekah Hays Estera was officially installed. The celebrant and preacher was the congregation’s rector, the Rev. Jude Harmon. Assisting was special guest Archdeacon Nina Lynette Pickerrell.
As it was the parish’s celebration of the Feast of Candlemas, Rev. Jude’s excellent sermon described the ancient pre-Christian and early Christian observances of this holiday situated midpoint/hinge-point between the winter solstice and vernal equinox and between the Nativity and Resurrection. How the presentation of the Christ Child in the Temple, forty days after his birth by his mother Mary, reminds us of her sacrificial love in giving birth to our Savior. How the candles being blessed on this day remind us of Christ’s light, warmth, and wisdom. How candles can be seen as precious, because they were made of beeswax formed by the sacrificial work of bees that were all children of the queen bee of a hive. In like fashion, deacons such as Rebekah and Nina do sacrificial work among us in serving others and the greater good, thereby showing us how to “bee church”.
I liked that the Gloria concluding the Nunc Dimittis named the Trinity as the Mother, the Son, and the Midwife.
0 Comments