Dear Friends in Christ,
On the Netflix series “The Crown,” there’s a scene that shows Queen Elizabeth I justifying the decision to attend church weekly to her skeptical husband. She tells him that it is, in part, a chance to reflect on the week that has been.
The line is insignificant on the show, but it struck me and has stayed with me, because it is what I so often need: reflection. Life moves fast—and, in the words of a very different screen character, Ferris Bueller—”if you don’t stop and look at it every once in a while, you could miss it.” I long to pause so I can just absorb everything.
In the life of our church, I sense that we are at a moment of reflection, of stopping to look around. So many people have worked so hard to bring our worship and programs back from the experience of the pandemic. We have made it through a full year together on Sundays in the nave. We are, perhaps, at some kind of new baseline for our life together.
So what is that baseline? What do we have, and what do we need?
I hope that we can be deliberate in the coming weeks about reflection. I hope that we will take the time to look at ourselves, taking stock in the past so we can know how to move into the future.
First up: parents of young children. This coming Sunday, June 12, immediately after the 10:30 service, Mother Nina and I would like to meet with parents to hear more about what your pandemic experience has been like, what it’s been like to come to church, and what you need going forward. We’ll gather in the amphitheater (in part so that kids can play on the playground).
I hope there will be chances for other groups in the church to gather in this way, too. Ordinarily, a new rector would begin like this—extensively listening and learning. The last eighteen months, however, have been anything but ordinary. We also have new staff that need to learn more about this place. And so this is the time we have to pause, to look and see, to listen and hear.
I look forward to discovering what we might learn together—
Yours in Christ,
Anne+
Photo by Niklas Ohlrogge on Unsplash