You are my shelter; you preserve me from trouble; you surround me with songs of deliverance.
Psalm 32:7
Dear Friends in Christ,
If we’re doing it right, our sanctuary should be a place of welcome to all who seek to celebrate God’s hope, who long to live at peace with their neighbor, learn, grow, pray, sing, or bring a child to make a sandwich for a hungry person. As well as those with a deep, orthodox faith. But as long as folks have generally good intentions, or God affections, we’re happy to gather together.
For several weeks this Lent we had after-hour conversations about the deeper meaning of sanctuary. The room, the concept, the legal location — such as a sanctuary city in the Bible — and what it means to us spiritually. It’s been a good topic for a season when we reflect on how we are individually, and how we are in our mission to the world.
We followed those two weeks with one week of adult education asking “Can we say that in church?” The point here was to ponder topics where we wonder if they pertain to scripture and theology, but also, topics we’d like to ponder more often than we do.
This last gathering got down to details. There was a lot of concern expressed for pain at large in our world just now, with specific focus on the pain in our nation. Several folks named those who have lost jobs with federal reorganization, or grants, with scientific cutbacks. More than one person asked for attention to how to focus these times, and even these years. And amidst this a consensus began to emerge that we might like to explore new ways to pray for each other during worship in the sanctuary. For example, should there be multiple voices in prayer, from the pulpit and the pew?
Thursday April 3 our Deacons will explore this latter issue.
And we have only modest effect on the pain in our nation.
But we can help each other, and we can help others from out of God’s sanctuary.
So something else that rose up these weeks was and is the connection we’ve had for years to a small hospital in Haiti. It’s called Konbit Sante, and in a way it is in a sane part of Haiti — not the big city, and not near earthquakes. And this hospital just lost all its USAID funding for maternal community health workers. And we have ten medical care professionals (that we know about) in our sanctuary on a regular basis. So there is a conversation starting about helping with that hospital, in the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere. Just starting, but if you are interested, let us know.
Another conversation arose as well: Covid times squashed our Maundy Thursday events. We’ve tried to bring them back a bit, but there hasn’t been spirit. Meanwhile, it’s the night of the Last Supper, the time of betrayal and denial, and among the most important events in Jesus’ full story. So, we will have an online gathering that evening. The same Deacons meeting will set the exact time, but if you are able to join for half an hour, from home, again — let us know.
Easter Sunrise is 6:00 am this year, back at Crystal Lake, and then we’ll hunt for eggs on our lawn at 9:30. We have special music at 10:00 am and if you have a friend, a neighbor, a family member who likes to sing, likes chocolate (really), or likes dawn, it is the perfect day to offer someone a ride, and save space in a pew.
Because our sanctuary is welcoming, it is holy, and those of us in it do care about our world and about each other. And we have work to do to care for each other these days, in prayer and action, so thank you for all the participation in Lent, and — ideally — see you in church.
Peace,
