Dear Friends in Christ—
Are you tired right now? I know I am.
As our patterns of life—at Grace and elsewhere—return to “normal,” it is exciting to engage in
so many of the activities that have been missing or diminished for two and a half years. We
meet and laugh at coffee hour. Foyer dinners are getting underway. My daughter has play
rehearsals again. My husband and I are getting invited to parties.
This makes me very happy. But it also makes me realize that I am out of practice. And it makes
me aware, too, that I am not the same person I was the last time I was invited to a play or a
party. I carry a lot of grief with me a lot of the time now. That grief drains me even when I am
not conscious of it.
This week, I want to do what I always do in these letters, which is to invite you deeper into the
heart of God by inviting you into our life together. But I am thinking in particular about how
our life together can nurture you rather than exhaust you.
Where do you know God’s love? Is it in coming to coffee hour and being known? Is it making a
difference to those in need? Is it in the beauty of soaring organ music? I encourage you to lean
into those things, with honesty and without apology. Let this church be a place that fills you.
In conversation with our vestry worship lead, Stephanie Reed, and our verger, Jay Legere, we
have decided to offer another way to get fed. We already have a weekday eucharist on
Thursdays at noon at the Lady Altar. We are going to also offer that liturgy on major feast days.
Those fall on varying days of the week, so we’ll be announcing the services ahead of time.
Will they be small? Yes. But I invite you into that time of intimacy and quiet. If you have been
to one of the weekday services, you will know they can be magical. They are one of the many
ways you can find quiet, that you can find a place to still your soul and let God nurture your heart.
I hope you come into a place of refreshment.
Yours in Christ,
Anne+