Author: Church of the Nativity

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Uncategorized

Update from the Rector

Dear friends,

 

The spread of COVID-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus, continues in North Carolina, and especially here in Wake County. The Bishops of the Diocese of North Carolina have issued some very helpful guidance and directives as to how we continue to do church together during this anxious time, remembering especially those most vulnerable to the virus, while staying connected in community during a time of needed “social distancing.”

 

There will be several changes to our worshiping life together for the next few weeks. We are following the Diocesan directives, as well as taking some additional precautions. Your Vestry will be discussing this at their meeting next week, and additional changes may be still to come.

 

  1. The Common Cup – Bishop Rodman has suspended the use of the common cup during Eucharist at this time. The risk of infection from the common cup is low; however it is prudent to eliminate this risk all together at this time. From his letter to the Diocese:

 

“It is well established that communion is complete with the offering of only the host. By                 suspending the use of the common cup for a one-kind Eucharist, you will not be denied               the promise offered by the usual communion of wafer and wine. Eucharist is a moment                      of unity, so not even celebrants will partake of consecrated wine…”

  1. The Peace – We are a warm and caring congregation who loves to greet one another during the Peace! However, at this time, we will restrict our sharing of the peace to a verbal “Peace be with you,” or a simple bow, or saying “peace” sign in American Sign Language.

 

  1. Passing the Offertory Plates – Rather than multiple hands touching the plates, the offering plates will placed on two tables in the church. You may place your offering in the plates as you enter for worship, during the Peace, or during the offertory time. (This will feel very strange, I know.)

 

  1. Fellowship – We will not be serving food at fellowship for the time being. Coffee, tea, and lemonade will still be available, and I hope you will continue to come to Estill House after the worship service to spend time together. As much as our treats are tasty, again, it seems prudent to me to lower our risk of contamination by not serving food right now.

 

  1. Watching the service from home – We are working on live streaming the worship service online so that you may watch the service from home. Visit the Nativity page on Facebook for more information in the next few days. More information via email will be available next week.

 

Though it pains me to advise anyone to miss church, if you are not feeling well, please do stay home. If you are worried about being exposed to the virus, please stay home. Everyone has a different level of comfort and feeling of safety. Please honor yours, and be compassionate towards others who might feel differently.

 

Scripture entreats us again and again to be not afraid. However, sometimes the world is a scary place, and anxiety is high right now. Let us continue to care for one another, and pray for creative ways to stay connected as the body of Christ. Let us pray for all the medical professionals who stand at the front line of caring for those affected by illness, for caregivers who bear additional burdens, and for the scientists working for remedy against this virus and all illness. Remember we follow a God who has overcome death, but still sits with us in our sorrow and our pain of our mortality.

 

Peace be with you,

Stephanie+

 

 

https://www.facebook.com/princetonseminary/videos/1739605086074674/UzpfSTEzNTE3NDQ2OTg1MTA4NToyNzQxMzc4MDk5MjMwNjk2/?__tn__=%2Cd%2CP-R&eid=ARA3sD5iknICOq1tYbISQcqOgJCs3-AIKhKkg_DN4ZjzRYbYWyh8cE1d-gdP08waQQVoZC2OzMQ_oEBr

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From the Clergy

The Community of Lent

Are you doing anything for Lent? Taking something on? Giving something up? It takes me forever to decide what I’m going to do, and sometimes I have to try a few different options to see what actually sticks. Some years, my Lenten practice doesn’t begin in earnest until the second or even third week of Lent. What can I say – we are all doing the very best we can at any given moment. Myself included.

I want to decide something good, something meaningful, but also something I will actually do. Give up Facebook? Sounds great, but not gonna happen. Give up chocolate? Sure! Until someone offers me a brownie.

I have noticed that if I can’t find a way to specifically link my practice with bringing me closer to God in some way, I’m guaranteed to abandon ship. The very best practices have been ones that bring me not only closer to God, but closer to other people as well. I remember one of my first years living in New York and picking up a Lenten devotional that had been written by members of the parish I was attending. I read it every day, and the experience made me feel closer to the church community because I knew something real about the people there. When I would meet the writers IRL (in real life) at coffee hour, there would already be a sense of connection, making the move from small talk to real talk that much easier.

Through the years, I have come to understand that although we think of Lenten practices as something individual, Lent is actually about relationships and community. The question is, what practices might I adopt that heal and support my relationship with others, and bring me closer to God? Rather than imagining I must adopt a certain individual practice, and perform it perfectly, how might I invite others in to share and support my Lenten discipline?

How is your Lent about relationships? How might you draw closer to the church community, or your other communities, during this season?

Still looking for a Lenten practice? Check out Lent Madness. You can follow on Facebook or Twitter, or you can visit the website each day to read about the saints and vote. You learn about the saints, and you become part of a funny, snarky, prayerful community that loves God, loves the church, and loves the people of God.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVVgB29wh50

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From the Clergy

2020 Online Resources for Lent

There are so many options for daily Lenten reflections to help your personal practice of Lent. Here are a few choices to consider.

Lent Madness

This is a fun way to learn about the amazing saints that came before us. 32 saints are placed into a tournament-like single elimination bracket. You vote online until a final winner is determined and awarded the Golden Halo.

Forward Movement Lenten Meditation

These daily reflections for Lent, offered by well-known faith leaders, provide boots-on-the-ground stories of serving and being served by “the least of these.”

D365

Devotions will switch to to Journey to the Cross beginning Ash Wednesday and running through the Saturday after Easter.

Signs of Life

A free 5 -week offering that encourages individuals and groups to explore the riches of our worship traditions, liturgy and sacraments, and the art and architecture of our worship spaces.

Sojourner’s Verse and Voice

Each morning receive in your email a short scripture, justice quote, and prayer.

Living Compass Lent Offering

Living Well Through Lent 2020: Practicing Courage with all your Heart, Soul, Strength, and Mind. Sign up for a daily email reflection from Living Compass. Like the Epiphany series, there is a Facebook group you may join to continue the conversation beyond the reflections.

May your Lent be one of fruitful repentance, self-examination, and deep prayer!

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From the Clergy

2020 Lent Adult Formation Opportunities

Lenten Teaching Series
How to have a Holy Lent—Sundays at 9:30 beginning March 1
“I invite you, in the name of the Church, to the observance of a holy Lent, by self-examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting, and self-denial; and by reading and meditating on Gods holy Word.” We hear these words every Ash Wednesday, but how do we practice them throughout all 40 days of Lent? Join us Sunday mornings at 9:30am for deeper dive into this exhortation. What does the Prayer Book say? What does Scripture say? The history of these practices? Pieces of art or music inspired by these practices? Join us to learn more about the Episcopal Way of Lent.

Lectionary Discussion Groups—Sundays at 9:30

Mens’ Lenten Bible Study—Wednesday mornings in Lent (time TBD)
Men of all ages are invited to join the Rev. Bob Sawyer for a study of scripture during Lent. Reflect upon the upcoming gospel, pray together, and there might just be a hymn sung at the end too!

Life Transformed: The Way of Love in Lent
Lenten Quiet Day, Saturday, March 21, 9 am—3 pm. The Way of Love is a journey with Jesus. Join us for a day-long retreat for worship, study, prayer, and quiet to prepare our hearts for the journey to Easter. Email Stephanie at sa@nativityonline.org to sign up.

Lenten Devotionals
Devotional booklets available in the Narthex on February 23, and a list of on-line resources will be sent via the email newsletter and found at nativityonline.org.

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From the Clergy

“And then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing spring up quickly. . .”

Whenever I read the passage from Isaiah 58, in the lectionary for this coming Sunday, I want to burst into song with “And then, then shall your light break forth like dawn,” the concluding chorus of Felix Mendelssohn’s oratorio Elijah.  It exuberantly proclaims the theme of light that we celebrate throughout Epiphany.  At Christ Church, the choir counted on my programming it regularly, usually on the last Sunday in Epiphany, just before the Lenten season.  Check out the performance by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir on YouTube.

That leads me to think about the power of metaphor.  In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, “You are the light of the world.”  How many times in the Bible do we encounter the metaphor of light?  I counted:  in the Old Testament (King James Version), 177 times; in the New Testament, 95.  That’s not even including related words like “lamp” and “shine.”  Each time, it reminds us vividly of the brilliance of light as it pierces the total, enveloping darkness known to the Biblical world.

Just before that verse in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, “You are the salt of the earth.”  We use that expression frequently and pretty much take its meaning for granted.  Or do we really know?  Think about how much flavor salt adds to our food, and how bland it tastes without salt.  (So sorry, those of you who are on a salt-free diet!  Last week, my doctor shocked me by advising me to increase my salt intake.)   If we are indeed the salt of the earth, we add flavor to our world and make it more desirable.

As an aside, from my vantage point at the altar, I look out at our congregation and see it filled with dear souls who are, in fact, the salt of the earth.  What a blessing!

Jesus provides an antithesis to each of these virtues, as a warning of how not to live.  When he says, “if the salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored?  It is no longer good for anything” — that is worrisome.  It sounds to me like burnout, and I don’t want that to happen.  I need to be recharged — go on a retreat, take a vacation, seek a spiritual director — to restore my saltiness.

Even better, I think, is the warning that nobody hides a light under a cover (a bushel).  What good would it do then?  So, as he says, don’t be bashful.  Put your light, your special gift, on a lamp stand and let it shine before others, not in a boastful way, but by doing the good works which God has prepared for us.  Right on!

Here’s another hint from this Sunday’s lessons:  “Light shines in the darkness for the upright;  the righteous are merciful and full of compassion.” (Psalm 112:4)

To use yet another metaphor, the lessons for this coming Sunday are pure gold.  (Check them out at http://www.lectionarypage.net/YearA_RCL/Epiphany/AEpi5_RCL.html.)  We are invited to taste the full flavor and glow in the light of God’s love, reflected in each of us.  Thanks be to God!

Now, take a few minutes and enjoy Mendelssohn’s music:

“And then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing spring up quickly. . .Lord, our Creator, how excellent thy name is in all the nations.  Thou fillest heaven with thy glory.  Amen.”  (Isaiah 58:8; Psalm 8:1)

https://youtu.be/BLmxrq_FY-o

 

-The Reverend Dr. David Lynch

 

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From the Clergy Uncategorized

Groundhogs, Football, and Sweet, Sweet Baby Jesus

February 2, 2020 – The day when Baby Jesus comes out of the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami at the end of the Super Bowl, and if he sees his shadow in the stadium lights, there will be another six weeks until Lent starts.

Just kidding. It is interesting though, that big church and cultural touchstones occur on the same day, and all happen to be on Sunday this year. The Feast of the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple is a feast day of the church 40 days after the Feast of the Nativity. It marks the day when Mary could return to the temple after giving birth, Jesus is presented in the temple, and an offering of thanksgiving is given by the parents. It is another instance of Jesus being recognized as the Messiah, even as an infant, in this case by two elders of the community, Simeon and Anna. The canticle, The Song of Simeon, or Nunc Dimittis, is Simeon’s proclamation. We say it at Evening Prayer, there are famous settings of the text sung at Choral Evensong, and there are many musical settings of the text.

A quick aside – we celebrate the Feast of the Presentation only on February 2. When it falls on a Sunday, we celebrate it that Sunday, but if February 2 is another day of the week, we celebrate that day. This is why we don’t celebrate this feast on a Sunday morning every year, unlike a principal feast like All Saints or Pentecost.

You might have heard this feast day referred to as “Candlemas.”  This traditionally was the time when beeswax candles would be blessed for use for church and home throughout the year. Some Roman Catholic churches will combine the candles from Candlemas with the feast day on February 3 of St. Blaise of Sebaste, patron saint of sore throats, by blessing throats with two crossed candles. Alas, the Episcopal Church does not celebrate St. Blaise, and instead, along with the Church of England, remembers Anskar, Archbishop of Hamburg, Missionary to Denmark and Sweden, 865. A worthy commemoration, I’m sure, but with the all the various flu strains going around this year, maybe a few throat blessings is what we need right now.

I think I just went down another rabbit hole, or was that a groundhog hole? Another important event on February 2 is Groundhog Day – a custom brought to this country by German immigrants in which a rodent predicts the weather for the next six weeks. I really have no opinion about this, except that it helps make a funny joke about the baby Jesus seeing his shadow at the Presentation.

All this is to say that while January can feel like a very long month, spiritually, I find February even longer. My soul feels like it is in hibernation with the groundhog. I keep looking for the light of Epiphany, but the Christmas decorations are finally all put away, it is still dark in the morning when I wake up, and the weather is dreary and cold. It isn’t time to start thinking about my personal observation of Lent yet, but I’m busy planning for what we might do as a congregation during Lent.

Hibernation, however, can be a time of rest and renewal. Marking small moments, easily taken for granted, like Mary’s recovery from childbirth, offering again thanksgiving for the baby who changes the world, lighting candles in the cold darkness, walking the dog in the morning before the sun comes up, making soup at night – perhaps these communal and personal rituals are exactly what can give my soul the peace it longs for right now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSCq_qCVN70

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Outreach

Ocracoke Strong

The total raised for the Ocracoke Hurricane Relief fund from the Silent Auction at Nativity in December is $4,310.00 – money that has been donated to the relief efforts at Ocracoke.

Bill and Sharon Conley visited Ocracoke just after Christmas; here is Sharon’s description of what they saw:

After Christmas, Bill and I and two family members spent a few hours in Ocracoke while awaiting the ferry to Cedar Island.  Almost immediately after arriving from Nags Head, we saw disturbing evidence of Dorian’s September 6th “visit” to this island, a place that is 3′ above sea level.  Approaching on Highway 12, we saw large mounds that looked like sand dunes.  As we got closer, we realized they were huge piles of debris.  Continuing on, we passed a mile or more of organized waste – broken appliances in one area, tools and lawn equipment in another, roofs, walls, and siding in another area.  Miles of waste showing evidence of the disaster to people’s lives!

Riding around the town, there are hopeful signs of renovation.  There are also signs of demolition, where renovation has yet to begin.  It was a Sunday and the only open restaurant was a small pizza place with huge lines.  A local grocery was also open.  The residents we met said that the goal is for Ocracoke to be ready for tourists in March.  Money is a necessity but manpower may be even more important.  I am hopeful about their recovery.  Their slogan: OCRACOKE STRONG! 

If you did not manage to participate in the Silent Auction for Ocracoke, but want to donate to the relief efforts, go to the Outer Banks Community Foundation website and donate.

Thank you for your donations.

Beth Crow and Sharon Conley

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From the Clergy

Invitation or Command?

Invitation or Command?

This Sunday’s gospel reading is the same story of the calling of Andrew and Peter that we heard last Sunday from the Gospel of John, but this week the story comes from the Gospel of Matthew. It includes the infamous phrase, “Follow me and I will make you disciples of men.” (people in the NRSV)

Jesus’ invitation is different in both. In John, he says, “What are you looking for?” and “Come and see.” In the Matthew version, it is more imperative, “Follow me.” Both are invitations rather than commands, though one might argue that “Follow me” could be a command.

The command to discipleship can be a tricky subject. For those who might come from tradition where a relationship with God was more command and threat, rather than invitation to love and mutuality, the imperative might make one fearful of not following God, or being constantly afraid of God’s reaction when the following is less than ideal.

Certainly a culture of transaction – you do something for me, I do something for you in return – makes the imperative the default. But what if we looked at the invitation to discipleship as an invitation? What might that do to our image of God, and what might it do to our relationship with God?

I suspect that it would make the relationship deeper and warmer. I think God would become a being we would want to talk with more, spend more time with, and offer more praise and adoration. Much like we do our current beloveds!

Have you ever considered if Jesus’ words are invitation or command? What do either bring to your mind and your spirit?

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From the Clergy

40

Psalm 40 is one of my favorite psalms. And not just because the band U2 made a rock song out of it. (If you’ve ever been to a U2 concert and heard them play it, and heard the audience singing with it, it’s church. Watch the video below all the way to the end when the audience takes over the song. It’s church.)

I waited patiently upon the Lord;

            He stooped to me and heard my cry.

I’m not patient. Like the rest of the planet, I want what I want when I want it. And not just what I want personally in my own life. I have some very definitive ideas about how the world should work, how things should be, how we need to clean up the planet, take better care of each other, end all war and violence, get rid of library fines, just to name a few. I’m impatient for God’s kingdom and the promise of a place where swords are turned into plowshares, and lions and lambs lay down together. I’m impatient for the Lamb of God to take away all sins of the world and what that might look like.

I have a feeling I’m not alone in this. Psalm 40 affirms that God is listening, God comes to my level of understanding, and God hears me and my lament for myself and my planet.

He lifted me out of the desolate pit, out of the mire and clay.

There is something about the image of mire and clay that reminds me of the image of creation: God creating the earth creature, out of the dirt, out of the clay, giving it breath, and calling it good. The image of the psalm, God lifting us out of the clay, is a birthing image. There are things about my own humanity that are great and indeed good, and there are just as many that aren’t so great, that aren’t so good. The psalm reminds me that God lifts me out of that into my true created self that can be free to be fully human, and fully loved by God.

He set my feet upon a high cliff and made my footing sure.

What do we do when the footing is not sure? When the path is unclear? When we can’t take the long view and see the road ahead? I am comforted by this promise of God moving us from the lowest of low – the pit – to  up high on a cliff where the vista ahead is clear. Cliffs can be dangerous places, so for us to feel our footing is sure on that high cliff, that is faith and confidence in God.

He put a new song in my mouth,

a song of praise to our God;

many shall see, and stand in awe,

and put their trust in the Lord.

That’s just the first three verses. Go read the rest. We’ll pray the entire psalm on Sunday in church. Take some time to sit with it this week. Or, another psalm that speaks to your soul right now. What does your soul need? Praise? Lament? Comfort? Chances are, there’s a psalm for that.

 

*At a concert in Chicago on April 29, 1987, Bono said: “This is a song that when we were being thrown out of the studio… we spent ten minutes writing this next song, ten minutes recording it, ten minutes mixing it, ten minutes playing it back, and that’s nothing to do with why it’s called ’40.'”

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From the Clergy

Praying in the Parentheses

I don’t know about you, but I could use some light of the Epiphany season right now. Things are pretty scary in the news these days – the violent anti-Semitism, the wildfires raging in Australia, the uncertainty of what’s next with Iran and Iraq. I especially wouldn’t mind a nice theophany – a  clear and direct message from God, much like the one Jesus and John hear at Jesus’ baptism, “This is my son, the beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:17).

A clear and direct word from God to give light in the darkness of our world would be welcome right now. Suzanne Guthrie in this week’s Edge of Enclosure notes, “Epiphany begins and ends with theophany: the heavens opening and the voice of God over the waters of Jordan and upon the mount of Transfiguration, like supernatural parentheses around the very grounded Galilean ministry.”

Which makes me wonder, what are the supernatural parentheses we might be living in right now? Do you feel like you are in the middle of something about to begin? What might God have said to you at the beginning, and what do you imagine will be his word again when you reach the end?

Perhaps being in the middle of spiritual parentheses is finding meaning during the space of transition. Before we receive the light, or understand what the epiphany of our lives might be, we try to make some sense of things as they are now. I know that reading the news moves me to pray for peace, moves me to use my resources to help where I can, and moves me to be a person of peace in all areas of my life. Perhaps my spiritual parentheses right now is discovering how I might be more of a peacemaker in the name of Jesus, the prince of peace, the one who stands at the shore to be baptized by my side, alongside the pain, the fear, the joy of being a human in this world.