Welcome to Christ Church Parish, Redding, CT

we are redding's episcopal parisH

We are a welcoming community of loving Christians exploring our faith, serving others, and growing in God's love. We are active in our community, and take great joy in fulfilling Jesus’ command to love God and our neighbor, in prayer, word, and action. All are welcomed, included, and affirmed at Christ Church Parish. To find out more, click below!

We meet at 9am on Sundays for a service of either Morning Prayer or Holy Eucharist.

We gather in our Parish Hall after the service for Coffee Hour.

CLICK HERE for more information!

Located at 184 Cross Highway, Redding, CT (on the corner of Cross Highway and Route 58)

(In case of inclement weather, our service will be streamed ONLINE on Facebook Live. Check your eTidings, our Facebook page, or this website before leaving for church on Sunday morning if the weather looks iffy!)

A Reflection from Pastor Emilie

Dear People of God,

This month, we celebrate the Feast of All Saints. It's a good time to stop and reflect on the question, "What is a saint, anyway?"

On All Saints’ Day, we also hear the Beatitudes from the Gospel of Matthew, and it is there that I find my definition of what it means to be a saint. What immediately strikes me when I read the Beatitudes is the word "blessed." Blessed are the poor in spirit...the meek...the merciful...the pure in heart...those who hunger and thirst for righteousness...

What does it mean to be blessed?  
 
Classical Anglican theology has a somewhat unique definition of what it means to bless something: It means to take something ordinary and set it apart for God's purposes. Blessing something does not change its structure, or its chemical makeup, or its basic nature. It doesn't make it somehow perfect, or supernatural, or magical. But it does define its function: It is used in the service of God.
 
We set aside all kinds of things in this way: We set aside perfectly ordinary buildings made of perfectly ordinary building materials for the service of God when we consecrate them as churches. We set aside perfectly ordinary bread and wine, made of perfectly ordinary ingredients, to be for us the Body and Blood of Christ when we consecrate them in the Eucharist. We set aside perfectly ordinary tap water to baptize people into the Body of Christ when we bless the water of baptism. And we set aside perfectly ordinary people to be the Body of Christ when we baptize them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
 
That is what it means to be a saint. Sainthood doesn't mean changing our bodies' structure, or our brains' chemical makeup, or our basic human nature. It doesn't make us somehow perfect, or supernatural, or magical. Saints are simply people who live as though they have been set apart for God.
 
Sometimes we tend to put saints on pedestals and call them "holy" as if it means they were perfect. As if it means they achieved something so difficult that most of the rest of us could never aspire to it. As if it means they were different from the rest of us in some fundamental way.
But I don't think any of the saints were any more perfect than any one of us. I think they simply let God in to bless all of who they were, the good and the bad, and everything in between, and then allowed God make use of all of who they were, in the service of God's kingdom.

It doesn't take perfection to become a saint. It only takes courage.

Your Sister in Christ,
Emilie+