We are on this journey together and we will see it through - not to an end but to somewhere new that will be the beginning of the next journey.
Episcopal Campus Ministry 2020 in Review
I began as interim chaplain in December of 2019. From January to March I worked to get to know the students, the house, and The Student Food Pantry. At the start of the year we had four student residents, Tatiana, Colman, Jepry, and Leslie. On Thursdays I invited local parishioners and Episcopal Campus Ministry (ECM) Board member to prepare meals and share in fellowship with the students and I invited local clergy to celebrate the Eucharist. This was a great way for us to connect with our local Episcopal Churches and to hear from different parishioners and priests about their faith journeys. For the Student Food Pantry, there was lots of hands-on learning and new connections to be made as I took on Chaplain Doug’s role of oversight. And then COVID-19 arrived.
Saturday Breakfast Ministry Continues
Lent Madness
Some Good News in 2020
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 Focus on Grace
Dignity of Human Nature
I don’t remember how old I was when my dad taught me and my sisters to say a prayer on Christmas morning thanking God for sending Jesus to us before rushing downstairs to see what was waiting for us under the tree, but clearly it was a lesson that stayed with me since I still do it. Over the years I’ve come to understand that all those beautifully wrapped presents, unearned gifts, given simply because the givers love the recipients, are but tangible reminders of the greatest unearned gift of all.
Vestry Report for November/December Bellringer
But the pandemic goes on.
In 1961, one year before the end of the Algerian War for Independence, Frantz Fanon began an essay describing the effects of the war with the phrase, “But the war goes on.” Although his situation was very different from our present one, this strange beginning seems appropriate given that we too are still in the midst of a crisis that seemingly will not end.
Click “Read More” for the entire Vestry update that was included in the November/December Bellringer.
HO!HO!HO! for 2020 - A Ministry for All
Inclusive Language Morning Prayer Zoom Service
On November 6, St. Mary’s began offering an additional daily office Zoom service: Morning Prayer Fridays at 9:30 AM. This daily office service will be using the resource Enriching Our Worship I. This supplemental liturgical material was prepared by the Standing Liturgical Commission of the Episcopal Church. St. Mary’s has long had a value of providing alternative worship opportunities to those who want and need it. A core focus of this value has been inclusive language.
Turning to God and Facing Chaos Together
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.
Praying the Ashes
Shortly after the fires East of Eugene began, I went for a walk in Amazon Park near my home. When I came home, I went to wash my hands, and saw in the mirror that my face and hair was dotted with small pieces of black ash. They were irregularly shaped. Just as each snowflake is unique, I noticed with a shock that so is each piece of ash. Suddenly I knew
Trust in God
O God, our times are in your hands: For a Birthday, p. 830, BCP
Rarely have I been forced to trust more completely in this most basis tenet of our faith than this past week. The Holiday Farm fire has devastated our beloved McKenzie Valley. It pains me to even imagine driving through this valley that for as long as I've lived in Oregon I’ve considered one of the most beautiful anywhere. Vastly more important than scenery, of course, is the fact that this conflagration caught the residents of Blue River completely by surprise Labor Day evening, forcing them to flee for their lives leaving their homes to the flames.
Vestry Report for September/October Bellringer
By the time you receive this report, St. Mary’s will have had two-plus weeks of in-person outdoor services in addition to our “bring-your-own-everything” Annual Picnic. These mark the gradual steps we’re taking to see each other in person again, as we near the end of summer and the start of fall. We hope that the summer has been a peaceful time for you, as it has for many of us, and we have been grateful for the small things, like the growing of our gardens and house plants, the warm weather and sun-filled days, the hikes and time spent in Oregon’s outdoor bounty. These past two months have been an opportunity to assess our response to the pandemic during the spring and to reevaluate as we look to the coming year and to more sustainable solutions. We’ve been shifting from a reactionary, temporary mindset into familiarity, routine, and real acceptance that this is how we live now.
Where Two or Three Are Gathered, I Am There
Until recently, going to “church” has meant walking into our building at 13th and Pearl, and gathering with you, my beloved community. After several months of social isolation because of COVID, I began to suspect that church, as we knew it, was over. Now I am beginning to understand that church is not the building, but the beloved community. The people. You and me. In the past weeks, here are some of new ways I have experienced “church.”
We Are All Called
During the live-streamed events the candidates addressed a host of topics from one day to the next, but the responses that moved me most deeply were those dealing with why they feel called to be the next bishop of Oregon. I listened to them talk about call, about how many times, for some of them, others suggested that maybe they were meant to be a bishop and how utterly amazed they were to hear such a thing. Oh no, one candidate said she replied the first time it happened, that can’t be right.
Blessed Are Those Who Mourn
A Vestry Update
Our dear St. Mary’s community,
Thinking back on the last two months feels like waking from a dream where the images fade but the impression remains. While this lingering impression is complex and individual, it is most likely some combination of continued grief for the loss of normal life mixed with the ever-growing uncertainty for the future. It is further complicated by the way our concept of time has become nebulous and unreliable, along with our fatigue. We are Just. So. Tired of continued catastrophes and of mustering the strength to make it through each day. Out of our mental, emotional, and/or physical exhaustion, haven’t we all prayed (or maybe yelled, wept, or whispered)– When? When will it be over? When will life return to normal? Please God let it be soon!
