Parish Letter for 23 April - Deep Roots
Alleluia! Christ is Risen! The Lord is Risen Indeed! Alleluia!
Greetings dearly beloved of God! Another day has bloomed with the promise of rain to water the animals, people and earth. Amen and Amen!
I pray this note finds each of you well, safe and probably bored. Sheltering in place has brought most of our society and life as we knew it to its knees. In some places life seems to have stopped altogether.
Fortunately for us, we have a living God that is already up and about when we open our eyes each day. He watches with gleeful anticipation as we turn on the shower, grab a cup of tea or coffee and get creative with breakfast preparation. God is hopeful each day that before, during or after our morning routine, we will spend quality time reading, pondering and sharing his Word.
I use Forward Day by Day to jumpstart my morning prayer time. This year they are celebrating an anniversary and on Thursdays offer a reflection shared in the past. Today they share one that was written in 2014. To my joyful surprise it was around my life-verse from the book of John Chapter 15, titled “Jesus the True Vine”. [I verified the title in my beautiful brand new blue Bible given to me at my Installation. Thank you!]
The verse I try to live by each day is verse 5:
“I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing.” (NRSV, 2008)
The image that may come to mind is that these are grapevines with sturdy stalks about four feet tall. The vines that I saw at a convent in Kumamoto, Japan were twisted and thick. They had produced the wine for the convent for several years. Their roots were deep, so when typhoons came in they stayed put and did not move much in the strong winds and rain. But without attachment to these vines the grapes would wither and die. Without attachment to the main vine there would not be any fruit at all.
Today we have a mild rain storm blowing outside our windows. Trees are swaying but none have fallen as yet. The trees and the earth are drinking in some of the water but too much will make the land flood and could cause roots to loosen and trees to fall.
Covid-19 has brought a few storms and a lot of rain into our lives! Karen is beginning to hold her own at Houston Medical Center but is definitely not out of the woods. Her life and ours have been permanently changed. Church life will never be the same again. The “usual” no longer exists. A new “norm” is being fashioned with each day we greet God with coffee and prayers.
Bishop Robert C. Wright had his beverage of choice in hand as he spoke to his 100+ clergy on a Zoom meeting this week. Each of our weary faces were looking to him for happy news in response to Governor Kemp’s tentative re-opening speech earlier in the week. We were delighted to hear we could return to our churches to do Live Stream taping.
Yet, the Bishop was cautious to advise too much too soon. Following is an excerpt, by permission, from his summary sent to clergy of our meeting.
“In due course and only when I am advised by health and safety professionals that it is reasonably safe, will I offer the possibility of in-person worship for our Diocese. Until then let us bring imagination to how we care for one another, new power to our proclamation of God’s good news, and new effectiveness to how we support those who are oppressed by fear and lack.”
My interpretation of this information is that while the storm of Covid-19 rages and sometimes wanes in our daily lives now, we are to shove our roots deeper and steadfast into God’s capable hands. We will pull mightily from His strength as we garner our own.
We will get up from our collective and individual knees to re-imagine ways we can “touch” each other with “the love of Jesus”. What do you think would work well for you? Are telephone calls helping? Someone has suggested we start a Bible Study or do a Book Study. Would you be interested in that? Is there something you would like to offer? Tell me/us about it.
How about a another parish wide Zoom meeting to see each other and share our thoughts on life as we know it right now? What else would you like to do with your Rector and your Vestry during this stormy time?
Keep us informed. We will begin taping services in our beautiful chancel area again soon. We will continue to share Sundays with our brothers and sisters at All Saints in Warner Robins. In doing so we are one body, with one faith, sharing the love of Christ and the Word of God with each other as we plant our roots deeper during these difficult times. We are not alone.
Through a variety of efforts and applications I believe we will arrive on the other side of this pandemic with much more than a smile and a prayer. We will with God’s help. Amen and Amen!
Sincerely in Christ,
Rev. Shirley Porter