Like that first Easter, resurrection begins in the dark. In the darkest moments, when life seems too hard or when the weight of this world seems too much to bear, when all seems lost, the Resurrected Christ breaks through.
The clergy and staff at St. Peter’s are excited that we are able to begin worshipping in person again, yet we also know many in our community cannot join us and many others are not ready to gather in person. My hope is that our Holy Week and Easter schedule will provide opportunities for all to observe this most holy season, either in person or from afar.
Lent is a time to embrace the wilderness. Lent is a season in which we are invited to examine our lives, our relationships with one another, and our relationship with God. In the wilderness, we encounter temptation and false promise, but we also encounter the Living God who invites us to follow the Way of Jesus instead of the ways of the world.
Christmas reminds us that God comes into the world not with stormy triumph and might, but with quietness, unexpectedly, wrapped in humility and grace. God is revealed not through the birth of kings and generals, but in the face of a poor peasant baby, born in a stable. In a world not too unlike our own, a world filled with uncertainty and fear, God reveals perfect love through the simple and unsophisticated birth of Jesus.
On Sunday, October 25, we will welcome one of our bishops to St. Peter’s, the VI Bishop Suffragan of North Carolina, the Right Reverend Anne Hodges-Copple. Bishop Anne will join us for a virtual visitation this year, but the day will feature many of the familiar offerings during a bishop’s visit.
I am excited to announce that on Sunday, October 18, at 1:00 p.m., we will offer an outdoor service of Holy Eucharist on 7th Street beside the church.
This is perhaps one of the strangest beginnings to a new program year in the history of our parish. Yet, unprecedented moments provide new opportunities!
We will gather again as a faith community, with glorious liturgy and inspiring music, as soon as it’s safe to do so.
You don’t have to walk on water. Trust the One who can. Do not be afraid.
The Church is a place of redemption, forgiveness, and reconciliation. Judgment and condemnation is not our mission. That alone belongs to God. Let weed and wheat grow together.
