Dearest Holy Comforter family,

Lent began with an Ash Wednesday service that is always deeply moving to me. Now, when my dad’s ashes have become inseparable from the earth of our memorial garden, and so have Marvin’s, Katie’s, Judy’s, Frances,’ I am more mindful than ever that a church like ours is a place where we acknowledge the extent to which we are connected, not just to those we worship, laugh, cry and work with, but also with those whom we love and see no more. And that our love for those people connects us powerfully to the earth.  Indeed, dust we are.

For the past two years, Lee and I have gone from the service at church to taking ashes to folks for whom it is especially difficult to get to church. This year, we were both blessed with the company of members of the congregation on these visits: Kathy Barrowman, Melanie and Haynes Kelley, Ann Montgomery, and Hannah Williams. I was reminded that our connections extend beyond the place we gather for worship, and it was just lovely, how faces lit up when we arrived at people’s homes and the people receiving us saw friends they hadn’t seen, some of them in years! Over these next few weeks, I will continue to make visits, bringing communion and simply enjoying the company of the wonderful folks I miss seeing on Sunday.

In this liturgical season when we find ourselves walking with our friend and savior on the road to Jerusalem, our worship has been shaped around the notion of simplicity. I already feel the emptiness that comes with Randy not playing a voluntary at the beginning or end of our services. It was a little strange to have Alden come down the aisle with the alms basins in silence. Next week, we will process it silently too. Perhaps that might all feel a little unsettling. I think it helps if we see this as a gift, an opportunity to hear ourselves breathe, to turn to our interior landscape, and see more clearly the path we are called to make. Sometimes, for me, the silence comes with a surprise—I might hear a bird call that is new or unfamiliar. A long-forgotten memory might bubble up, an invitation to prayers of gratitude, lament, and supplication. 

In my sermon for the first Sunday in Advent, I suggested part of the meaning of the Season of Lent comes from the sense that it brings us to a threshold—a moment of decision that allows us to cross over from the known, familiar, and comfortable, to places that are untamed, unknown, maybe even a little wild. We knelt with awe to remember the birth of a tiny boy in December and knew something extraordinary had happened. During the Season of Epiphany, we followed the star of Bethlehem and allowed ourselves to be warmed by its light, even on some of the bitterly cold days this winter brought. At its best, our faith, confirmed over and over again in our life of worship, fellowship, and good works, make it possible to cross the threshold into untamed spaces filled with the grace that allows us to feel safe and nurtured, brave enough, curious enough, empowered enough, to give thanks for the chance to go to new places.

May this Season of Lent be filled with blessings of quiet reflection, enough silence to hear what God has called us to, and a community that practices kindness, generosity, and joy. Rosa+

"This Here Flesh" Book Study

It is not too late to join our Lenten book study. We are gathering via Zoom on Tuesdays at 7:00 PM to discuss the recently published book by Cole Arthur Riley. Ms. Arthur Riley explores how her spiritual life has been nurtured and shaped by the experience of being a Black woman in this turbulent time in our nation. Her writing is gorgeous and she challenges us all to ‘go deep’ into the questions of how our life in the spirit is shaped by the world around us, and how we might help shape the world by what we experience in the light of God’s love. Purchase on Amazon here.

The link to the Zoom call is:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85162216297pwd=NGtpL1VrSnZVVFBFbndOWGxNY29ndz09

SUNDAYS

Holy Eucharist |10AM

✠

WEDNESDAYS 

 • Morning Prayer | 10:30AM

Randy Woodland is the officiant

 • Compline | 8:30 PM

CPR & First Aid class | 11 AM, Sunday, March 19

Sign up for CPR & First Aid class being held in McMaster Hall. The cost of the class is $40 per person. If you can cover the cost for yourself, wonderful, if not, HC will! A light lunch will be provided as well. Thank you! Rosa+

We will be weeding and planting in the Community Garden all summer, if you would like to help, contact Jean.

the Food Pantry is serving over 50 families weekly. Donations include all non-perishable food items and personal items: shaving cream/razors, deodorant, toilet paper, diapers, toothbrushes/paste, etc...

Donations can be left in the bins outside McMaster Hall.

the Backpack program is currently packing food for 25 children, delivered weekly so they will have food over the weekends;

see photo for an example of items needed.

We have a basket outside the front office window for donations.

DATES to REMEMBER

march, april —

Mar 7, 14, 21, 28 | Apr 4, 11, 18, 25

Food Pantry 10 AM | COT 5:30 PM

Feb 28 | Mar 7, 14, 21, 28 | Apr 4

Book Study & Discussion of “This Here Flesh” via Zoom,

Tuesdays, 7:00-8:00 pm

Mar 1, 8, 15, 22, 29 | Apr 5

Morning Prayer 10:30 AM (in Chapel & live-streamed),

Compline 8:30 PM (live-streamed FB)

Mar 12 Coffee Hour, 11 AM

Mar 18 Take One Delivery

Mar 19 CPR & First Aid class, 11 AM

Mar 26 Vestry Meeting, Sunday, 11 AM

April 6 Maundy Thursday Liturgy & Stripping of the Altar, 6:00 PM

April 7 Good Friday Liturgy, 12 noon

April 8 Holy Saturday Liturgy

(in Memorial Garden, weather permitting, 9:30 am)

April 9 Sunday of the Resurrection Festal Eucharist, 10 AM

April 29 Vestry Meeting, Saturday, 9:30 AM