We Start at the Altar

Dearest Holy Comforter,

The ‘rubber hits the road’ this week with the scheduled Respite Event we are hosting on Saturday. I am pinching myself that we are about to take an important step in making our dream for a Community Arts Center program a reality here at Holy Comforter! There is a fair amount of work going on so this event is a success.

I had my weekend planned to keep ticking off items on my To-Do list. Then the tornadoes hit. I am beyond grateful for a new parishioner’s willingness to help organize a response that worked well for the Church of the Holy Comforter. I rejoiced to have visitors from other faith communities come and help as guests of a new parishioner. The kitchen and McMaster were a happening place, full of joy and laughter. By taking the Jambalaya we had prepared in 5-gallon water coolers, we were able to serve folks in Selma over 15 gallons of hot, delicious food. They were so grateful and I was so thankful that we could respond to such need. At our vestry retreat, your leadership team is going to consider the possibility of forming a ‘rapid response team’ that assesses situations like the one on Thursday and determine how we might be able to respond.

With two very different needs in front of me, as the weekend began, I found myself needing to move pieces of schedule and attention around. There were some parts of my to-do list I had to let go of; I will need to monitor that kind of challenge carefully. The last thing our parish needs is for critical pieces of our shared life to fall through the cracks. I also understand in a time of significant change and growth, we do well to have clear priorities. 

The Shrove Tuesday pancake meal (or two, when we served both lunch and dinner) has been a lovely tradition at Holy Comforter. The very next day is Ash Wednesday with its own list of things that need to get done. Perhaps more important, I have observed that it is helpful to avoid scheduling back-to-back events at the church. For many of us now, one extra time commitment during the week is hard enough, let alone two, one right after the other!

As your spiritual leader, I work with a couple of guiding principles: One is to do everything possible to “keep the main thing the main thing.” Ash Wednesday is an important day in the liturgical life of the church. It would be great if we could combine a noon-day Ash Wednesday liturgy with a pancake meal—except that just won’t do. In this situation, I have asked that we make the Ash Wednesday liturgy the event we focus on. Our work and our community always start at the altar, and I am doing everything I can to ensure we plan time for fellowship around regularly scheduled worship.

The second guiding principle is to laugh a lot and open space for joy. I love Shrove Tuesday and next year, we may be better able to have pancakes again. But that’s next year. For this year, we are going to have King Cake as part of our coffee hour immediately after church on the Sunday before Ash Wednesday. I hope you will come that Sunday and join us for the kind of fellowship and fun Holy Comforter knows how to do really, really well!

Don’t forget that on the 29th of this month, we have our annual meeting right after church. We will also have a chili potluck. I have gleefully acquired little tokens of appreciation for the outgoing vestry and officers that I can’t wait to give to them! There will be a lot of information to share and as always, this will be an opportunity for you to ask questions, give us feedback and make sure we are pulling in the same direction.

These are exciting times filled with possibility. The light shines. The light shines bright and beautiful, showing us all kinds of life and love in our midst. God is good!

With prayers for Epiphany blessings of light and new beginnings, Rosa+

SouthWest Community Arts Center

Rapid Response Respite Program

for Children on the Autism Spectrum

Saturday | January 21st | McMaster Hall

Volunteers arrive: 10:30 am (preparation)| Students: 1-5 pm 

 Collecting old t-shirts & socks

If you have old t-shirts and/or socks, please bring those and place them in the basket in the narthex. Thank you!

Morning Prayer & Conversation

Wed., Jan. 25 & Feb. 15, in the Chapel

10:30 AM (Morning prayer) & 11 AM (conversation & snacks)