Dear People of Grace,
May the Blessing and Peace of Christ be with you.
Well, we have another week under our belts in this new way of living and sharing and being the Church in the world. I pray for all of you and hope that all is well and that you are staying safe and healthy. If anyone knows of a need or a suffering within the parish don’t forget to reach out to myself or Fr. Bob.
This time has been full of many firsts: 1) Streaming live our Sunday services; 2) Facebook live every night at 8PM the ancient office of Compline; 3) Streaming our healing service on Wednesdays; 4) Monday Morning Bible Study via Zoom (an online meeting portal for up to 100 people); 5) Finance Meetings via Zoom; 6) Vestry meeting via Zoom is scheduled. Whew, a lot of new things in a short time.
In my experience this is always the best. Forced to adapt and try new things and ideas and new ways of doing thins explode. That’s what we are experiencing here at Grace at this time. We hope you are joining in on Sunday mornings and weeknights at 8PM for Compline.
Fr. Bob and I are rotating Sundays; +Bob and +Jeanette one Sunday, Fr. Gary and my wife Chris the next Sunday. We will all be with you together on Palm Sunday, through Holy Week and on to Easter. We will be joined by Jim & Elise Cassarino during these services as they will offer their gifts of music during these important services.
I am also very happy to be able to remain with you at Grace until 2-3 weeks before your new rector arrives. Continuity during a time like this is imperative to adapting and leading during stress filled times. I am honored to remain and thankful for your support and love.
If you tuned in to last Sunday’s service you heard that +Bp. Jose’ has ordered our churches to remain closed until May 10th and maybe later. We, at Grace; clergy, Vestry, lay leaders are doing everything we know how to do to make this time as Christ filled and smooth as possible.
With the Bishop’s guidelines in effect, we have reduced face to face contact as well as reducing hours at the church itself. Valerie works Mondays at Grace and Fr. Gary works Wednesdays at Grace, all other work happens at home via computer, phone and Zoom. Thank you for your understanding.
During these times of distance and not gathering as the Body of Christ on a weekly basis we often lose contact with one another or maybe we feel a little off kilter. Might I suggest an intentional reach out to someone in the parish to check on them so that they hear a friendly voice. At this past week’s Monday Morning Bible Study (MMBS) there was much joy by many people from just being able to see and hear those people who are important to them. Please know that the MMBS is open to everyone and that all one needs to do to join in is go to your web browser and direct it to: https://zoom.us/j/951655448.
With the distance we are experiencing it can be challenging to keep up with financial giving to Grace. We will soon have an online giving portal on our webpage that will simplify giving. When this is ready we will announce it and encourage you to “check it out.”
As you can see there is still a lot going on at Grace and in our community…know that God loves you and that you are loved by all of us here at Grace.
In closing I would like to offer a reflection form our previous bishop, The Rt. Rev. Porter Taylor, he writes:
The novelist Bernard Malamud writes, “We have two lives: the life we learn with and the life we live after that. Suffering brings us towards happiness.”
In this moment we are in both of those lives because we are learning what it means to live a different life, but we can’t hold our breath until it’s over. We must live this life now because it’s the only life we have.
Those of us in affluent peaceful America may be bewildered that suffering brings us towards happiness, but of course the gospel has been teaching that for over 2000 years. Perhaps this virus is teaching us what the cross means---we are having to let go of any illusion that we can make the world behave. No gadget, no remote control, no button that we can push will take us back to where we were. Like the people following Moses in the wilderness, the only way is forward.
As I have been trying to come to some sense of what’s going on, I think that suffering brings us towards happiness by opening our hearts. Remember that it’s at the cross that Jesus shows us that to find our way, we must reconstitute relationships: the disciple John becomes the son of Mary and Mary becomes the mother of John. Suffering shows us what matters and what doesn’t. It reminds us that we are all mortal and that life is fragile and precious and that God in Christ is calling us to a different way of living and being together—a holy communion.
So---maybe there’s a lesson in this time. Maybe we are in the midst of the life we learn with, but we are invited into the life we live with after that. Our name for that life is resurrection.
Prayer: Gracious God, open our eyes to witness all that is happening around us: the joy and the pain; the weeping and the laughing. Help us to learn the way of the Cross so that you might open our hearts to be resurrection and be agents of resurrection. In Christ name we pray. Amen
Practice: Allow yourself to feel what you feel and offer it up to God.
Let us pray.
Be present, O merciful God, and protect us through the living of these days. Give us the courage and strength to know you are present and beside us; give us the grace to forgive ourselves and others; give us the strength to support each other, those in need, and continually offer our thanksgivings for those who put themselves at risk in our medical professions; give us the wisdom to know what to do, what to say, and when; and in your mercy, O Christ, guide us so that we who are wearied by the changes and chances of this life may rest in your eternal changelessness, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Blessings, Peace & Love,
Gary+
Fr. Gary Butterworth
Grace Episcopal Church | 871 Merrimon Ave., Asheville, NC 28804
graceavl.com | 828-254-1086
Office Hours:
Monday through Thursday, 9 a.m. - 4 p.m.
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