Dear parishioners,
Today, we offer you a prayer, forwarded to us form Dolly and Arch Cross, which Father David thought was very insightful in these current times, as well as the daily Lenten Meditation. Please stay in touch with us, and each other, and we will keep connecting with you, as well, on a daily basis. We are getting new content and interesting suggestions for staying connected in innovative ways from the parish office, Father David, and each other in our parish community. You should be seeing these new items in upcoming emails and on the St. Edward’s website and on Facebook. We will be producing an April Scepter, as well, which will come out April 5th, so look for that on our website.
As we enter week 2, people are longing to hear from others in the various “communities” of their lives – family, friends, and worship, so if you have a moment, please pick up the phone and say hello to someone in your life, especially your friends at St. Edward’s. You would be surprised at how much it really means to them. As you keep each other in your prayers, please keep Father David and his wife Diane, as well as Father Rick and his family in your daily prayers.
Until tomorrow.. .
Michelle
PRAYER FOR A PANDEMIC
May we who are merely inconvenienced remember those whose lives are at stake.
May we who have the luxury of working from home remember those who must choose between preserving their health or making their rent.
May we who have the flexibility to care for our children when their schools close remember those who have no options.
May we who are losing our margin money in the tumult of the economic market remember those who have no margin at all.
May we who settle in for a quarantine at home remember those who have no home.
As fear grips our country let us choose to love. During this time when we cannot physically wrap our arms around each other, let us find ways to be the loving embrace of God to our neighbors. Amen
LENTEN MEDITATION, Monday, March 23, 2020
Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself?
- The Book of Common Prayer
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Sometimes it can be hard to find Christ in others. Sometimes it can be hard to find Christ in yourself too. One of the most humbling experiences of parenthood is the absolute, bottomless love that children can offer. Unconcerned about how your career is going or whether you served broccoli as the vegetable for dinner three nights in a row (or if you missed the vegetable entirely), children just don’t care. They love.
I had never much connected with parental images for God until I had children. “Father” was too distant and patriarchal, and “God our Mother” seemed like a reactionary knock-off that tried to reverse a gendered binary. Responding in love to the love of my children, though, puts me in the place of both lover and beloved. I can repeat day after day that I don’t earn God’s love, but secretly I am sure that good behavior is required. Would I demand that of my children to love them? Of course not. Do they require it of me for love? No.
God’s love is there, waiting. Sometimes it’s easy to see, other times less so. But Christ is in me and in you. Let us open our eyes.
- Sara Irwin is an Episcopal priest serving as pastor of St. John Evangelical Lutheran Church in Carnegie, Pennsylvania, married to Noah Evans and mother of their two children