“What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”

(Micah 6:8)

My wife, Barb, through her work at Cardinal Stritch University, became familiar with the friars living at Old Mission Santa Barbara. She had helped with a few workshops when some of the members of the group were located in Wisconsin. When they moved to Santa Barbara, they asked her to continue her work with them through those workshops. She was happy to comply. After a couple of years of doing this each fall, the leadership invited her to bring me out for some time of rest and retreat. We decided to take them up on their offer in March of 2020.

The initial trip to Santa Barbara was filled with stress. I had been busy at the church prior to our travels. The Lenten season had just begun, and that meant that there were more services and more activities filling my time. Prior to any trip, the workload seems to increase as I try to carry out my day-to-day duties and as I prepare to make sure that everything is in place for the congregation in my upcoming absence. And that year was no exception. To add to the normal stress, the news was filled with stories about a disease that was spreading throughout the world. There were limited cases in the U.S. at the time, but COVID-19 was starting to make its presence known. As we made our travels from Wisconsin to California, we were frantically cleaning any surfaces we anticipated touching on the planes and even more frantically sanitizing our hands regularly to avoid getting sick. At the time, we assumed the way that one got sick was most likely through touch. It turns out we should have been more concerned about the airborne nature of the disease.

Once the drama of getting to Santa Barbara was over, the actual experience of being in the community for that week of Spring Break was incredible; and, in retrospect, all of the stress leading up to our arrival was worth it. Brother Jeff was Novice Master at the Mission, and he was an extremely gracious host. He gave us the grand tour, let us look in places that few others had the privilege of seeing (including the top of the bell tower with an amazing view of the city), and shared the history of the space as we wandered through the facilities. But the thing that I appreciated the most was the opportunity that I had to join the community in the daily prayer services.

It had been years since this was a part of my routine. In seminary, such services were part of the schedule, and I attended as many of these special services as I could. I especially enjoyed the Evening Prayer or the Compline services as a seminarian. Those services helped me to refocus, after a busy day of study and activities, and circle back to God’s Word as I prepared for a night of rest during those seminary years. Being in such a time with the community, singing a hymn or two together, and praying with others for all those in our seminary community and in the world, calmed and empowered me. At Mission Santa Barbara, being surrounded by others who were living in community, singing God’s praises together, and praying for those in need throughout the world, calmed and empowered me once again.

When we left the Mission and returned home, everything started to fall apart. COVID-19 was wreaking havoc everywhere. Stores were closed or only offered supplies in new ways. Churches were closed, and I had to learn how to use internet-based systems for communication and for worship. I was hoping and expecting that this would be a three- or four-week thing. It wasn’t. Things got worse before they got better before getting worse again.

Through all of the challenges in those early days of dealing with the new realities brought on by COVID-19, somehow I felt better and more confident than I probably should have felt. But the reason I was so filled with optimism even as the world was falling apart around me was because I knew that there was a group of people back in Santa Barbara focusing on God’s Word, singing hymns of praise and inspiration, and lifting the world up in prayer every single day. These servants actually practiced justice, truly loved kindness, and spent the day walking humbly with their God. And that reality filled me with hope and promise for a better tomorrow.

I returned to Mission Santa Barbara in March of 2022. The leadership was different. Brother Jeff had retired and Father Erick had taken his place. I was worried that the place might not be what I remembered because there had been so much change. But, in spite of the change that had taken place, the spirit of the space remained very much the same. The community continued to practice justice. The community continued to love kindness and made that kindness known in ways small and great. The community continued to walk humbly with God. And, in doing so, the community continued to calm and empower me in profound ways. It was there that I began the writing process for my 2022 Advent Devotional booklet. It was there that I began the writing process for this booklet as well. And it is to there that I return (mentally, if not physically) when I need a reminder that there remains a group who prays for the world and those in it every single day. That knowledge continues to be a source for calm and empowerment in my life and in my ministry.