Our Community
St. Hildegard’s is a transformative community,
a place to live into our baptism
with accountability and encouragement.
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St. Hildegard’s is an alternative way of being church,
intentionally small so that gifts can be
called forth and a vision embodied.
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St. Hildegard’s is a community where we practice the disciplines
that nourish the radical freedom of the Gospel. All disciplines shall be freely chosen
when there is a readiness and yearning within for the gift that is offered.
A Welcome, from our Priest
Judith Liro
The history of the Church is a story of waxing and waning: of great vitality and brightness followed by becoming lukewarm and wan. Always the Holy Spirit blows new life into the midst of indifference and brings renewal to what seems as good as dead. True renewal follows Jesus and is marked by commitment, sacrifice, transformation and joy. It is not a surface gaiety that does not renew the depths of our hearts; neither is it dreary duty of becoming either good, religious, or of building a just world. Renewal for those marked as Christ’s own forever is rich and complex. It includes knowing the celebration of wedding feast and the leaping and dancing following healing, the courage and risk of engaging the powers and principalities, the shattering devastation and naked vulnerability of the cross, and the certitude of God’s love, faithfulness, and compassion which cannot be killed.
St. Hildegard’s is a place to be open to the stirrings of the Holy Spirit in the paradox of life…. There is said to be a Chinese curse, “May you live in interesting times!” Is there any doubt that we live in such times?! St. Hildegard’s desires to be a place where the curse is brought under the blessing of God as we receive the gifts and the courage, the vulnerability and the boldness to embrace the challenges of our lives and live as God’s people. The Book of Common Prayer puts it very eloquently: O God of unchangeable power and eternal light: Look favorably on your whole Church, that wonderful and sacred mystery;…let the whole world see and know that things which were cast down are being raised up, and things which had grown old are being made new. St. Hildegard’s is a community which recognizes that we are living this mystery of the ongoing reformation and revitalization of the Church. We embrace this as our vocation and adventure, accepting the uncertainty and enjoying the excitement.
In the gift and sacrament of baptism we are called into a community which embodies God’s hope-filled Dream for us and for the world. The Dream of God is large and varied, the possibilities almost endless. The Church will surely embody the Dream in multiple expressions. At St. Hildegard’s we hope to be a community which makes the Dream so real that each of us in our own way is strengthened to bring God’s possibilities to birth. Some of you may find supplemental nurture here as you bring new life to your own Episcopal parish or other Christian congregation. We also welcome those who are not Christian but who find that our worship is strengthening for your own spiritual journey. We look forward to having our life together enriched by you and the various traditions which have blessed you. We hope that others will join us in making St. Hildegard’s a primary spiritual home and will be drawn to a life of commitment and discipline which can be transforming for you.
For the community,
~ Judith Liro
