Yes, it’s been a difficult year, but the lights of the season bring us hope

Life is wonderful, even if it has dealt us some heavy blows this year.

Who could have imagined that a week before Christmas we would be in the middle of a pandemic that has already taken the lives of over 300,000 Americans? Or that millions of Americans would have to stand in food lines to feed their family? Or that many businesses would be shut down, causing millions to be jobless?

Or that police brutality against African Americans would be so blatant — and frequent? And who could have imagined the hatred that seems to have overtaken our beloved America, pitting friend against friend, neighbor against neighbor, state against state?

Yet, for all the turmoil, the hard-hitting blows, the setbacks, the deaths that still leave our country in mourning, I see a flicker of light at the end of the tunnel of 2020. And come January, many Americans will pick up the broken pieces of 2020 and start afresh.

I am sure there will be the usual New Year’s resolutions. As gyms open up, there will be new memberships. Many will promise to be better human beings, to be gentler, kinder.

2021 will welcome a new president and vice president to lead our nation. The fact that Americans picked a president who chose a woman of color to be his vice president has given me and a lot of others a renewed confidence in our country.

And there is more: Thanks to the new vaccines, there is hope on the horizon that 2021 is the year we will win the war against COVID-19. Meanwhile, we brace ourselves for the lives still to be lost while we mourn the friends and family members whose lives have already been snuffed out.

These musings of mine come at a time when those of us who are Christian prepare our hearts and homes to celebrate the light of Christmas. And our Jewish brothers and sisters celebrate the lights of Hanukkah. These wonderful traditions still bring us joy and will guide us through the darkness, the hurt and pain of 2020.

As America looks forward to new leadership in Washington, we must also remember that President-elect Joe Biden is just one person. While I believe he will be a good president, he will only be as good as the senators and representatives on both sides of the aisle let him be.

These are the men and women we have entrusted our freedom to and they must come together for the good of our nation. Even a non-politician like me can see that partisanship must be abolished if we are to survive.

During this past year, I have seen so many acts of kindness, of people helping people. I’ve seen these acts even when the pandemic, the in-house fighting, and the ugly racism that poked its head up caught us off guard and knocked us down again.

But we don’t have to stay down. We can get back up, brush off the dust and come back stronger than ever. How do I know this?

This is who we are; we are all in this wash together. Christmas is a great time to scrub out all the stains that separate us. This is the season of peace and goodwill, a time for us to lay aside our differences — not for just the holidays but from now on.

Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah to all!

St. Stephen’s priest celebrates 50th anniversary

Warm congratulations to the Rev. Howard Stowe, who is celebrating the golden year of his ordination as an Episcopal priest at 10:30 a.m. Sunday at Saint Stephen’s Episcopal Church, 2750 McFarlane Road in Coconut Grove.

Stowe was ordained in 1970 in New York City at the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, where he served as the bishop’s assistant for two years before becoming rector of Saint Ignatius of Antioch Episcopal Church in Manhattan.

Stowe moved to South Florida in 1995, and has served at The Church of the Fisherman in Islamorada, Holy Family Episcopal Church in Miami Gardens, Saint Christopher’s Episcopal Church in Key Biscayne and Christ Episcopal Church in Coconut Grove.

It was while Stowe served at Christ Episcopal that he became the chaplain at Saint Stephen’s Episcopal Day School in Coconut Grove, where he served as both Day School Chaplain and as Priest-in-Charge of the parish while a search for a new rector was being conducted.

Bishop Leo Frade, who has since retired, asked Stowe to be the mentoring priest to help the Rev. Albert Cutie when he made the transition into the Episcopal priesthood. Cutie, a former Roman Catholic priest, later became the rector at the Church of the Resurrection in Biscayne Park, and Stowe stayed on to help him before returning to Saint Stephen’s.

Stowe will celebrate the Holy Eucharist at 10:30 a.m. Because of the pandemic, the celebration service will be outdoors and face masks and social distancing will be required for those attending.

This story was originally published December 19, 2020 at 9:44 AM.