Resurrection Is a Current Event

The feast of our Lord’s resurrection is upon us (on April 4).  In our Eucharistic Prayer A, which we tend to use through the bulk of the church year, we proclaim the mystery of faith: Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again.  Did you catch that?  Christ has died and he will come again - past and future events.  However, he is risen.  Not has been raised (only a past event), not will be raised (only an event of the future), but is raised, on that fateful third day after his crucifixion, in those days to which we look forward, and - present tense - right now, today, and every day we renew our faith in Jesus.  As such, maybe we can begin to see that resurrection is not just a single moment out of history.  Resurrection is a current event.

Having done more than give up chocolate through Lent (I hope), having gone through self-examination and repentance, engaged prayer, fasting, and self-denial, and reading and meditating on God’s holy word, now we get to experience resurrection.  Because Jesus has defeated death, death doesn't get the last word.  Jesus defeats death.  Because of what Jesus accomplished for us, we get to benefit, dying to those parts of ourselves revealed through Lenten disciplines that keep us distant from God, being raised to new life in intimate relationship with God.  That’s resurrection - not just something we have to look forward to, but a current event; something we get to experience today and every day that we find our faith in Jesus renewed.

Marc+

Update on Covid numbers and ramifications for regathering

The Covid numbers in our area have been slowly climbing over the past few weeks.  As of March 23, the positivity rate that we have been tracking (a weighted average of the Hampton and Peninsula Health Districts) stood at 8.57%.  Per our regathering guidelines, if at any point that weighed average rises to 10%, we will not be able to regather until it has dropped under 10% for two consecutive weeks.  So our hoped-for regathering date of April 11 continues to be tentative.  We will definitely keep you posted.

Reserving your seat for in-person Sunday worship on April 11

On April 11, percentages permitting, we are planning in-person worship at 10:30 AM.  Because our regathering protocols limit the number of people who can be present in the church, attendees will need to make a reservation.  Registration is on a first come, first served basis and opens on Sunday, April 4 at noon and closes on Wednesday, April 7 at noon.  To make a reservation, please call Bill Wilds (880-5460). If you make a reservation and need to cancel, let Bill know.  If you are not able to get a reservation because all spaces are taken, Bill will place you on the waiting list.  If something opens up, he will contact you.    Because space is limited, we are asking that if you attend one Sunday, please wait at least a week before registering again.  All of our services will continue to be streamed live online each week and also available to watch later on Facebook.

How will you practice resurrection this Easter?

Dear friends,

How will you practice resurrection this Easter?  Even in the midst of a pandemic, we as Christians are Easter people, resurrection people—in every season of our lives.  One of my favorite lines from our beautiful funeral liturgy is:  To your faithful people, O Lord, life is changed, not ended.  When we hear those words in the burial service, I’m guessing we are thinking about the life to come. But what about this life?  In what ways does Jesus’ resurrection change and shape our lives here and now?

Our Wednesday night Lenten study has focused on resurrection shaped life—life lived in a way that witnesses to our central Christian belief:  that Jesus Christ is risen.  God’s own beloved Son, who gave his very life out of love for us, is alive.  Jesus conquered death and came back to us, rising on that first Easter morning—and bringing us the gift of eternal life.  As we were reminded in the Lenten study, eternal life is not only about what happens when our earthly life is over.  Through Jesus’ presence in our lives and in our world, eternal life has already begun here and now.

This Easter season, how will we show that we are resurrection people, that we are embracing the eternal life we have so graciously been given?

Resurrection life, Easter life, is shaped by grace and love, hope and mercy.  We can practice those virtues in even the most mundane moments of our lives:  speaking kindly to a surly cashier; offering encouragement rather than an annoyed glance at a harried parent dealing with a toddler’s tantrum; following tiresome Covid precautions in order to protect other, more fragile members of our society; deciding to let go of resentment even when the offender has not apologized.  These—and so many others—are resurrection practices, marks of being Easter people.  And they are practices that our suffering world desperately needs, right now.

On Easter morning, Alleluias will flow from our lips, and our altar will be surrounded by a sea of beautiful lilies.  We will sing joyous Easter hymns, share our holy meal, flower the cross.  We will affirm our belief in the resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  And then, fortified by our worship, with music still filling our souls and Jesus alive in our hearts, we will re-engage with the task before us:  living resurrection shaped lives, leaving behind trails of grace, love, hope and mercy.

As we continue to learn and practice how to live resurrection shaped lives, I am so grateful to be walking this path with each of you.  Happy Easter!

Blessings and love.

Faithfully,
Anne

Winter and Ah! Springtime

From Hymn 149:

Verse 2
So daily dying to the way of self,
so daily living to the way of love,
We walk the road, Lord Jesus, that you trod,
Knowing ourselves baptized into your death:
So we are dead and live with you in God

Verse 3
If dead in you, so in you we arise,
you the firstborn of all the faithful dead;
And as through stony ground the green shoots break,
Glorious in springtime dress of leaf and flower,
So in the Father’s glory shall we wake.

Living in the glories of spring in Virginia, we get the visuals of this Lenten hymn and the Gospel lesson on which the hymn is based – “Unless a grain of wheat falls to the earth and dies…”

We are coming up on Holy Week, where we ponder the mystery of Jesus’ death and resurrection and, hopefully, think of the mystery of our own death and what God has in store for his beloved children.

We needed winter to get to springtime. We need the winter of betrayal, abandonment, and Suffering to get to Easter. 

-      Brad Norris, Minister of Music

Retreat

I will be on annual retreat this month (Tuesday the 16th through Saturday the 20th), a discipline I have kept for twenty-three years now on or around the anniversary of my ordination to the priesthood (March 20).  While not in my preferred monastic setting and its daily cycle of prayer, this year I will be at the Claggett Center in the Diocese of Maryland.

Scripture is replete with stories of Jesus going off by himself to pray, even such that the disciples couldn’t find him for a while.  As John Moses notes in The Desert, An Anthology for Lent (Morehouse Publishing, 1997), we, like Jesus and the third and fourth century desert Fathers and Mothers, find themes of "the desert ideal" on any retreat we undertake: solitude, testing, self-emptying, encounter....  Or said another way, “Abandoning everything in favor of nothing, or more accurately the abandonment of everything in favor of God - and God Alone.”

I find it truly a blessing that I have always had a family and church that supports the practice of annual retreat.  It does entail rest, but it is not a glorified vacation.  It is rather the real, sometimes arduous, work of going deeper into the realm of the Holy Mysteries to be attentive to the stirrings of the Spirit.  Sometimes it is only affirming of direction, other times there are surprises, but it is essential for the work of anyone doing what I do for a living - and not a bad idea for anyone else!

As much as solitude and self-emptying and encounter with God are all aspects typical of retreat, one additional thing to note is that retreat is never for the sake of retreat alone.  Jesus always came back, renewed in spirit, ready to get back to work and that is why I would term retreat as something essential for anyone, not just clergy, interested in exploring the Holy Mysteries.  It is never solely for the person on retreat, but so the person is better prepared to return and serve the community from whence s/he cometh.  So this month, pray for me while I’m on retreat (actually, pray for me all the time!) and pray for the guidance of the Holy Spirit to see if retreat is in your future - a time of abandonment of self in favor of God, and God Alone.

Marc+    

When can we regather for worship?? Probably April 11—only a month away!!

Dear Friends,

With all of you, I am so thankful that the Covid infection numbers in our area are falling and that more and more people are getting vaccinated (although I know that registering for a vaccine is still a complicated and frustrating process for so many people!).  We are getting close to the time when we will be able to regather in person again for worship—with protocols in place, of course!—and I am so glad.

Bishop Haynes and her advisory committee have said that once the state of Virginia’s positivity rate has been under 8% for 14 days in a row, she will allow parishes to regather for in-person worship, trusting clergy and lay leadership to take into account their local situations.  Our numbers in the Hampton and Peninsula health districts are slightly higher than the overall state numbers but are heading in the right direction. 

The first possible Sunday for us to regather will be April 11.  Because of limited seating capacity, I have decided to hold virtual services through Easter even if our Covid infection numbers are within a reasonable range by then.  We just don’t have a good way to make fair decisions about who would be allowed to attend Holy Week and Easter services and who would not.  So if infection rates have dropped to acceptable levels by April 11, we will offer in-person worship that day.

When we regather, we will again be following the regathering guidelines so carefully crafted by Joel Duregger.  We will re-send them to you and will also re-post the staff’s video about what to expect when you come to worship.  And even after we have regathered, we will continue to stream and post our services.  You will not need to be physically present to be able to worship with us.

I look forward to gathering with you in our beloved building soon.  Meanwhile, every blessing. 

-- Anne+

What will Holy Week and Easter be like this year?

Our talented staff is hard at work planning our worship services for this holiest time of the Christian year. Here is a quick preview of coming attractions:

• Palm Sunday worship will include the traditional Passion reading with multiple participants; and palm crosses will be mailed to every parishioner ahead of time.
• Maundy Thursday worship will include footwashing and the stripping of the altar.
• Good Friday will include two opportunities for you to partake in the Stations of the Cross: virtually at noon with the stations at St. Andrew’s; and outdoors in person at Hilton Christian Church in the afternoon

Easter Sunday will include three worship opportunities:

• A 6:30 AM sunrise service in the Killebrew’s backyard (info about how to sign up will be forthcoming)
• A 9:00 AM Children’s Easter service with short, child-friendly prayers; the Resurrection story from a children’s Bible; and special sing-along music with Brad Norris
• A 10:30 Festive Holy Eucharist

More details will be forthcoming.

From Worry to Wonder

I have never been a good passenger.  As a carsick child, I sat beside Dad in the front seat on long trips while Mom and Clarke were relegated to the back.  Once I got my driver’s license, I insisted on being the driver.  Partly that’s because driving usually prevents me from feeling motion sick.  Partly, to be honest, it’s a control issue.  My friend Fran, who has traveled with me for 30 years, recently pointed out to me that in all that time, she has never been the driver.  So John Herbst has a lot to put up with when he serves as my chauffeur.  We both feel ridiculously proud if we make it all the way from Windward Towers to the church without any driving comments from me.

But several weeks ago, Karen Waddill offered me great advice that has made my passenger days much easier:  Look out the side window.

When I focus on the road ahead, I obsess:  Does John see that car?  Has he clicked the turn signal?  Does he know we need to take a right?  Why aren’t we in the other lane?  But when I look out the side window, I notice the scenery.  I see people and signs and buildings that I’ve never noticed before.  The view out the side window invites me to wonder, rather than to worry.

When I meet with my spiritual director, he also encourages me to wonder rather than worry; to shift my thinking from the mindset of “I’m so worried about X” to “I wonder what’s going to happen next with X.”  Worrying about a situation doesn’t make anything better and often makes us feel worse.  Wondering, on the other hand, unclenches our hearts and opens our eyes.  Wondering helps us to see God at work.

As we continue to navigate the pandemic and all of the other challenges facing us right now, I invite you to practice turning from worry to wonder.  Try looking out the side window.  You’ll be surprised at how much better it makes the journey.

Blessings,

Anne+