"Everything" | Reflection by Bob Windom

Our biblical introduction to this season of Lent begins with the story of Christ’s wandering in the wilderness for forty days and Satan’s tempting Christ, which played upon the human weakness of wanting things, whether it be sustenance after a long fast, power or a safe life. Christ perceived what was missing in these choices: a non-transactional relationship with God. 

Even so, I find myself sitting in Trinity Church at the annual meeting or a Christmas eve midnight mass and admiring the beauty of the stained glass windows, the pageantry as three robed choirs process down the central aisle and the high altar especially when it is covered with poinsettia plants. These are all things, ornaments. As an associate rector once preached that “Christ did not die for Tiffany windows.”

These things are not to be the end in themselves but a call for us to gather and build relationships with each other and with God. Finally, everything is what we share with each other, the celebrations, community, family and ultimately a relationship with God. 

Thinking of family, I wanted to share this photograph of my daughter, her husband and their two daughters including the youngest, Josephine.

Photo Credit: Cornell Watson.