At a recent gathering of clergy, we were asked the following question: What time of day is it for your community? One person said that it felt like it was five minutes before midnight. Another said it was five minutes after midnight. One person said it was high noon. My response was dawn. Here’s why.
Masking Update
Thursday, March 10, 2022
Dear friends in Christ,
I am writing you today to talk about upcoming changes to our Covid protocols. As you have likely heard, the state will be removing the mask mandate on March 12th in response to the continuing good news regarding Covid cases and hospitalizations across the state. As of today, Lane County has moved into the low-risk category according to the CDC guidelines and we continue to see the seven-day average of cases drop. These improvements do not mean that the Covid pandemic is over. Whether this is a new normal or a calm between storms, we do not yet know.
Click “Read More” to read Bingham’s entire letter regarding masking.
Rector's Closing Thoughts: Drawing Closer to God
As we begin our third pandemic Lent, I’m feeling like the pandemic is more akin to the forty years the Israelites wandered in the wilderness than the forty days that Jesus spent out in the desert! And yet, one of the great themes of Lent is that God is with us through the difficult times. God taught Noah how to build an ark for the stormy forty days. God nourished and guided the Israelites for those forty arduous years of struggle and longing. The angels tended to Jesus during those forty days of deprivation and temptation.
To read Bingham’s entire article, which was originally printed in the Lent Bellringer, click “Read More.”
Vestry Report for June 2021
It finally feels like summer has arrived! The school year is done and the solstice has passed, so bring on the long days and vaccinated in-person gatherings that were once only the stuff of dreams. At our June Vestry meeting on the threshold of this summer season, we tempered our excitement with a reflection on “rest” from Thomas Merton. The passage we read was from a work aptly titled “No Man is an Island,” which certainly strikes a chord after this pandemic year.
Vestry Report for Pentecost Bellringer
“In this season of anticipation and waiting, we have decided to begin each Vestry meeting with a discussion of a short passage by Thomas Merton. We see this as a way of focusing on our spiritual growth. In March, we reflected on how we cannot explain everything, and how we shouldn’t always try to find answers. Sometimes we must sit with the unknown and with “the abyss of darkness” at our core. In light of the pandemic, Merton’s words reverberate loudly, especially his exhortation to let go of our desire to understand why and to embrace the ways we encounter God in our vast interior selves.”
Click “read more” to read the entire Vestry report.
A Season of Hope
Vestry Report for February and March
Vestry Report for January
Can you believe it’s already February? Since January flew by somehow, the Vestry wanted to send a quick update about where we are as we start this new year and what we are planning to do in 2021. We hope that 2021 will bring the eventual end to our pandemic way of life, but we also know that the year will have its own unexpected challenges. It might even be more difficult in certain ways as we experience the ripple-effect of last year’s financial strain, and we come to understand more fully the toll the pandemic has taken on our social, emotional, and spiritual well-being. While we move forward with a mixture of faith and caution, there truly is much to be thankful for. In that spirit, we want to acknowledge both how much we accomplished in 2020 and how well-equipped we are to confront 2021.
A Unique Christmas
You don’t need me to tell you Christmas is going to be very different this year. Having spent decades serving as emcee at all three Christmas Eve services I find it difficult to think about Christmas at this point because it’s so easy to slip into a negative feedback loop of all that will be missing from this year’s celebration of the birth of the Christ child. At the same time, I’m acutely aware that those of us who are only mourning what, rather than who, will be missing this Christmas are the lucky ones. Christmas is a time that has always been hard for some people, while there have been particular Christmases that have been difficult for many. Clearly this year will fall into the latter category.
