November, 2025

Beloved, 

November is a month full of holy disorientation. As the air cools and the trees shed their leaves, the church too approaches the end of its liturgical year – a season when endings and beginnings overlap. I invite you to take a couple of deep breaths and pause for a moment to sit in the presence of God. What has been different about your life today from the same time last year? What is heavy on your mind today about the future? As you find yourself in the present moment, how are you holding a tension between the past and the future?

We yearn for the melancholic past, while stressing out about what lies ahead – the unknown future. Being stuck between what was and what will be, we rarely pay close attention to what is – the present, which is in our possession and familiar to us. 

We often take the present from God for granted because we are too busy juggling too many things to get by. We let the noise of life bulldoze us, sometimes using it as a scapegoat so that we won’t have to confront what matters in that present moment. I, too, often found myself in that moment back when I was your interim pastor. I yearned for the good old times and felt anxious about what lay ahead. I kept asking, ‘Where is God calling me next?’ I must have tired Fr. Don’s ears because he eventually told me, “Well, Fr. Andrew, I wish I could give you an answer, but I know one thing: God has called you to be here right now. So why don’t we focus on now and pray about what He would have us do, NOW?” Even though I quietly listened to his wise advice, boy, did I feel like a spoiled brat, squatting on the floor, throwing a temper tantrum, screaming “Mmmmm NO!” in front of him. The denial in me kept blaming all the wrongs in the world, and I rarely paid attention to what I could do to sit still and listen to what God had to tell me. 

Why is it so difficult to live in the moment? Let me rephrase it: why do we fill our minds with trivial worries? Or, why do we pretend everything is fine when we know it is not fine at all? Perhaps the real question is this: why is it so hard to allow God to see what is truly in our hearts? Are we that ashamed of our vulnerability? 

Vulnerability is a window through which God enters into our souls. When we stop pretending to be tough and let God see our vulnerable selves, He meets us there—in the cracks of our spiritual barriers—washing away the past and grounding us in the present. That is what repentance truly is. And from that repentance grows genuine Thanksgiving—not a holiday sentiment, but a way of living in the sacred in-between. Best of all, we don’t have to go through it alone.

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30

I wish you a prayerful Thanksgiving.

With Love, 

Fr. Andrew