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There will be one Palm Sunday service this Sunday 3/24 @ 10:30 AM. Our holy week schedule is as follows: - Maundy Thursday, 7 p.m. with foot washing and stripping of the altar - Good Friday, services at 12 noon and 7 p.m. - Easter morning, service at 10:30 a.m. Please note: 8 a.m. service returns on April 7th.

5th Sunday after the Epiphany - Feb 4, 2024 Rev Sarah Colvin Frederick Buechner has a famous quote that reads, “Your vocation” or sometimes, “What God has called you to” (because we know those are the same things), “is where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.” I don’t think I ever heard the quote until I felt called to ministry, but I wish I had.  The first time I felt a call to ministry was when I in high school.  I had figured out where I would attend college (Sewanee, University of the South) and then I would figure out seminary. Aaannnd I got side-tracked for a few decades, but you see calls do not go away. I say this speaking from my own experience, because one can really only speak from one’s own experience, but this sermon is not about me.   I think one easily can say that it is not just calls to ordained ministry that don’t go away but calls from God—any, and all—do not go away.  God seems to be persistent. As many of you know, before I became a priest, I was a physician, specifically a medical examiner.  The easiest way to understand how I viewed that calling is that we spoke for the dead.  We told truth---sometimes this was high drama (like TV), but most of the time it was mundane.  Still there was a calling that at moments of performing that job, what I did—gave me satisfaction, if not quite joy, and met the world’s needs.   Now sometimes jobs just feel like jobs, but so much of life depends on how you do the actions you are called to do.  And besides paying jobs, volunteer jobs, or life in retirement has many options to bring joy to you and for you to meet the world’s needs.  This is vocation, whether it is a paid job, or volunteer work, or whatever else you do in the waking hours of the day. I start there, because no matter what you do, as a Christian we are called to a different life. However, studies have found that people who self-identify as Christian for the most part don’t actually live their lives very differently than others, at least from what can be measured objectively.  Basically, most people are not jerks.  Still, I think the intention as to how you live your life matters.  We can lean into this looking at the Epistle. “If I proclaim the gospel, this gives me no ground for boasting, for an obligation is laid on me, and woe to me if I do not proclaim the gospel!”  You may have heard me say this before, but many like to hide behind the words which have been attributed to St. Francis. “Preach the Gospel at all times, when necessary, use words.” My previous parish near Seattle loved this, because Christianity is not in the ground water there as it is in Virginia, the PNW is kind of its own missionary field.  People are also nervous identifying themselves as Christians when the masses out there view all Christians as whacky Evangelicals. However, both on the left coast and in Virginia, we have this laid upon us – this call to Christian identity.  It’s something we profess with our baptismal vows. “Will you proclaim by word and example the Good News of God in Christ?” This is the work of all baptized Christians, whether they are Roman Catholics, sane Episcopalians or whacky Evangelicals and everything in between.  This is what is laid on us. Why is it laid on us?  Because spreading the Good News of God in Christ is SOOO important that people need to hear about it. This calling is about living a life as close as we can to what we understand the life of Jesus to be. Jesus does his work, he heals, he casts out demons, he helps people return to their truest selves, the selves that God knows them to be, he rests, and then he prays to stay in order to stay in communion with God, a conversation, prays to be rejuvenated in between his moments of work. Then… he goes out to spread the Gospel.  “Let us go on to the neighboring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came out to do.”  It’s a very small part of the world that received the initial message, but that doesn’t change what we are to do.  Changing the world seems overwhelming, because it is, but we share the good news in whatever our walks of life are, we pray, and let God take care of the overall agenda. Let’s spend a few moments to talk about this church – how WE live into our vocation to share the good news.  I realize the sanctuary is a hot mess, but it’s on the repair line.  One can see the short-term history of this church writ large in the Gospel.  This church has never been very large, and all churches have had a decline with Covid.  The decline here has certainly been made worse by not occupying the sanctuary for several years.  BUT … It is not beyond the stretch of the imagination that there are people out there who are searching for you, as our gospel says they were searching for Jesus.  The identity of this place is to word towards racial reconciliation and to be a bastion for Catechesis of the Good Shepherd.  You have stayed true to your identity and this is why this church did not merge.  This identity is not linked just with the previous rector; from what I know, this is who you are.  Now, I’m not one to rush things along.  There are so many balls in the air with the repairs, but I can’t help but think that some people out there are looking for you, looking for a place with just this very identity. And how we live out our identity, the church’s identity, our calling, our vocation, where our deepest gladness meets the world’s deepest need--- the time is coming to attend to this again more robustly. So when you look at the repairs happening … when you think about the congregational rebuilding that needs to happen … and even if you feel discouraged from time to time about all of that … remember this: God is persistent, and God’s call to this congregation is to be faithful to who we are, to who God has called us to be-- teaching and forming Christians, witnessing to racial reconciliation, preaching the gospel to all people without exception. We can do this, with God’s help. There is hope, with God’s help. And so, I ask you now to renew that commitment again: will you proclaim by word and example the Good News of God in Christ? We will with God’s help.  AMEN.

If you've driven past All Saints in the past few weeks, you'll see that we've begun the necessary construction in the main sanctuary to enhance our facilities and better serve our community. We are excited about the improvements and the positive changes they will bring to our church environment. All regular services (both the 8:00 and 10:30am) and activities during the construction period will be held in Gunnell Hall. We encourage you to visit our website and follow our Facebook page for any updates or changes to our schedule. We are immensely grateful for your patience, support, and understanding during this period of growth and improvement. The construction phase is temporary, but the benefits will be long-lasting for our church and community. Should you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to reach out to our church office or speak with one of our vestry members.

2nd Sunday after the Epiphany - Jan 14, 2024 Rev Sarah Colvin “Lord, you have searched me out and known me; * you know my sitting down and my rising up; you discern my thoughts from afar.” To be known---I love this concept. We have so many stories in our lives that even when we have shared stories with someone over many years, even decades, a new one from the recesses of the mind pops up.  But they are all known to God. And God knows us, each and every one of us. God knows us completely before we know anything about God or when we don’t feel we know God.  And God hears us before we hear God. When my mother was at my house in hospice dying from a brain tumor, now almost 14 years ago (wow) she took so much comfort from a recorded meditation on this psalm.  She would sometimes be agitated, but I will always remember her relaxing when she heard the person reading the psalm, “you have searched me out and known me.” If God were a person, this might feel creepy.  Some of us may be private people and may not want others to know to much about us, but no one seems to complain about God knowing them. Even before we may have an experience of being known by God, the main way that we know that God knows us is from scripture.  Our Old Testament story sounds strikingly akin to our times today. “The word of the Lord was rare in those days; visions were not widespread.” It’s as if the book of Samuel is commenting on the first two books of the Bible (Genesis and Exodus) in which God seemed to be very involved in all day-to-day workings—commenting and saying, “No, it’s not like that now.”  Today just like in the days of Samuel, God does not necessarily seem involved. Besides this parallel, there are some funny things about the Hebrew in the story of Samuel and Eli.  In Hebrew, Samuel is Shamuel, composed of El, which is God and Shamu- which is “has heard” or “is hearing”,  So Samuel, “Shamuel,” keeps hearing his name called, but the name means “God has heard.”   Funnier: The name Eli- means “my God”. So “God has heard” hears his name called and then goes to wake up Eli (my God), who although spiritual at one time, has kind of lost his way, and particularly his sons, his heirs, have all lost their way. Just as in this story today, we don’t just happen to stumble upon God. God is always calling us, even when it feels that visions are not widespread, and the word of the Lord is rare.  Coming to church is not synonymous with answering God, but maybe they are a little related.  You may not know why you come to church.  There are always many reasons. Some will come to church out of guilt, or some may have been fed before, and are not fed now, some always will have been fed at church, or perhaps you call this church home, or you love the people, or you want Eucharist. Whatever the reason to be here, know that God has heard you, heard your longing, knows your desires, knows your need even beneath your desires, before you made a sound, have no doubt. So… close your eyes…. [call people’s names….]  Listen for the call of God, who has already heard the call of your own soul and your need. And what do you answer? “Here I am, for your servant is listening.”   … everyone… “Here I am, for your servant is listening.” Obviously, I’m not God, but in the Bible, people are always called twice by their names.  Like Samuel, we may get confused and answer the wrong call thinking that is God’s call, but I encourage you to keep listening. Prayer is less about talking and more about listening. God has already heard us, now is the time for us to listen.  It starts with God knowing you and then you come to know God.  Knowledge of God allows you to listen. And be aware when you answer, sometimes as in this story, God leads you to do uncomfortable things: Like speaking truth to power. Like loving those who are unlovable. Like changing what you have been, to be something new – something God knows is the deeper you anyway, and you just haven’t awakened to that yet. Uncomfortable is only that—uncomfortable… but, if it’s God-called it’s still good and it is what the world needs. Because …and here’s the deep truth of it… you have no existence apart from the purpose that God has for you and no deeper fulfillment than presence of God with you, and through you, to others. Like the Corinthians, you do not belong to yourself or your spouse or partner or your parents or your children. You walk with them, but you belong to God. You are known because you are God’s. You have been formed like clay, knit together in your mother’s womb. God knows your rising up and your lying down. God knew Samuel, in his youthful enthusiasm to answer. God knew Eli, even in his loss of vigor. God, in Jesus, knew Nathanael, idling under the fig tree. Nathanael is astonished at Jesus’ knowledge. It is this knowledge leads Nathanael (and us) to the conclusion that Jesus is the Son of God, because only God could have such knowledge: the one who knows us first, loves us first, calls us first, calls us again and again until we are clear that God is calling. And with God’s own help, we have only to answer.

As we approach a new year together, we're thrilled to share some updates that reflect our growing bond and commitment to spiritual growth. 🕗 Reintroducing the 8 a.m. Service! 🙏 After thoughtful discussions with the Vestry, we've decided to bring back our 8 a.m. service! This is a special opportunity for those who prefer to start their Sundays with an early dose of spiritual nourishment. 📢 Calling All Volunteers! 🤝 Are you interested in playing a more active role in our 8 o'clock service? Whether it's reading, ushering, or any other way you'd like to contribute, we welcome your involvement. Please don't hesitate to let us know if you're interested! 📖 Bible Study Sessions Between Services 🕊️ In addition to our services, we're introducing a Bible study session. This is a fantastic way to deepen your understanding and connection with the weekly lessons. You can join us after the 8 a.m. service or before the 10:30 a.m. one. Expect a relaxed, insightful, and communal learning atmosphere. We're looking forward to these enriching experiences and the chance to grow together in faith and fellowship. Your presence and participation make our community stronger and more vibrant.

4th Sunday of Advent - Dec 24, 2023 Rev Sarah Colvin How many of you have had what people call “God moments”? There are always at least a handful of people in any grouping who have had “God moments”, and not surprisingly a few more in a church gathering.  I find it interesting because many people critique the Bible with the observation that God is not active in the world today like God was active in Biblical times as if that makes God’s Biblical activity questionable or unbelievable.  Personally, I think God is just as active today, it’s just that we may not be so good at recognizing God’s activity. So, what about these God moments?  I presume everybody who has such moments have had slightly different moments, so what can we say about them?  Let’s look at scripture, always a good place to start, or finish.  Who is the most prevalent character in these stories of God moments, particularly in the Gospel? I am thinking the Spirit. The Spirit changes everything. The story of King David being relayed through Nathan that God does not want to have a house built was from an understanding that God did not desire to be confined, that the work of the Spirit of God was free flowing. We have a slightly different understanding now.  It’s not that we think God should be confined, but that our theology holds that God, by God’s very nature is not able to be confined. In either case: the Spirit of God, like the wind itself, cannot be boxed in or contained. It is the Spirit who strengthens the hearers of the epistle to Romans. “God who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ” --this reference is to God the Spirit, no question. How about our Gospel for this morning? Yes, we do have a dialogue between Mary and the angel Michael, but it is the work of the Holy Spirit that changes things--- all because Mary said “yes”. During this Advent, I listened to an online reflection from a retired New Testament scholar.  She spent quite a bit of time on the word “ponder” – as in, Mary pondering things in her heart.  Today and tonight, we will hear the word “ponder” more often than normal conversation for sure. In her translation of “ponder,” and looking at other uses of the word, our word translated into English from the Greek might more accurately be translated as “shrewdly consider.” I always think of the word “ponder” as being closer to “perseverate” but without the negative connotations, but “shrewdly consider” means something very different.  This scholar went on to point out that this particular “considering” carries with it the inability to make sense of something without divine help, divine intervention.  Whatever it is will not make sense without God.  It will not make sense without the Holy Spirit – the very Spirit who will bring Mary’s conception to pass to begin with.  Clearly this was liminal time where everything was uncertain, and things don’t go according to plan.  Things only made sense with God. Is our own time any different? We can only take a page from the time before Jesus was born, and trust in the one who cannot be contained to do the miracles we need among us. The God moments that anyone has experienced are the work of the Holy Spirit and do not make sense without the Holy Spirit.   As we approach Christmas Eve, rather rapidly now, now is the best time to be open to such moments, when God is up to something new. We know that there are God moments that happen all around us.  The point of the God moment is to change our insides, our hearts, shrewdly considering all that God has given us, given us as God’s son, and while we shrewdly consider and pray that God will make sense with the Holy Spirit and point us toward God’s new thing. Steve Garnaas-Holmes reflects on this God moment given in our Scriptures today: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God.” —Luke 1.35 With Gabriel's news the cosmic becomes personal. Christ is coming—God is embodied— in a new way, to transform the world,and whatever that is, it is happening in you. You are being asked to bear work that will have cosmic ripples. What is that new act of Creation God is accomplishing in you? What are signs of God’s new creating in your own heart and life? Look into your soul. Like gazing into a starry sky, it will require time for your eyes to adjust, time for the stars to come out. Give time and stillness to watch, to wait, to observe. What holy mystery is the Spirit doing in you? Wait, and wonder... and say Yes. Shrewdly consider, ponder, say yes, change the world.  The Spirit is working in us whether we know it or not, working to redeem the world one heart at a time. I am convinced it is never just for wonderment that God acts in the world, that you sense the Spirit moving.  God is always redeeming, bringing into the fold, and showing mercy, so that we can say yes to redeeming, bringing others to God and showing mercy. And by that, the whole world can be changed. AMEN. ---- Pittman, Lauren Wright. Marys Song, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=57074 [retrieved January 14, 2024]. Original source: Lauren Wright Pittman, http://www.lewpstudio.com/.

Advent blessings to you and your loved ones as we prepare to celebrate Christmas. As the days continue to get shorter and the nights grow darker, may we be reminded of that first Christmas when Christ came into the world, of whom John writes: The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. We look forward to worshiping with you! This year, we will hold one service on Christmas Eve: Sunday, December 24th @ 5:00pm.

15th Sunday after Pentecost - Sept 10, 2023 Rev Sarah Colvin You know what time it is, how it is now the moment for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers; the night is far gone, the day is near.” “WAKE from sleep,” Barring the political references of the day, or maybe because of them, wouldn’t it be nice if we were all woke? Ha, ha, ha, well, I was greatly appalled to read an article on current responses of Evangelical congregations who have complained to their pastors that Jesus’s words were ‘too woke, and liberal and that wasn’t going to fly in these days. It is weak.’ That being the case for some of our Evangelical brethren; instead, let us ponder what being AWAKE to salvation is to see if that can help us during this time. We can think of salvation asthe solution to the problem of being human. Borrowing from Paul’s letter, salvation is showing love unabashedly. Following the commandments is not a difficult thing, at least not a difficult thing to understand, if we couch it in terms of “what is it to show love to the other?” To show love to the other is loving as God loves. And if measured by the world’s standards, the Christians mentioned above are right, it is weak. Salvation, however, is what puts us right with God. Living in the armor of light is essentially not being a jerk. There are forever people behaving badly, though, and people in the church are no exception. To be clear, the church is part of the world, and we are all sinners. We all turn against God and against our brother and sister. In recent news, Spain wrestles with the misogyny of the coach of the women’s soccer team behaving badly, with his unsought kiss of a player after the women won the world cup. The church is called to be different, but too often we are not. In Episcopal church news, this past week has been upsetting. We learned of alleged sexual physical and verbal advances perpetrated by a retired bishop upon the newly elected House of Deputies, a lay woman. And when a person does behave badly, then what… is it supposed to be punishment or reconciliation? I think for most people looking in from the outside to a situation, reconciliation is not satisfying. People inherently want someone to pay, we want shame. This case was no exception; there is accusation of a double standard. From what we know, this bishop was given a “pastoral response,’ and no punitive response for his bad behavior. Although the president of the house of deputies, Harris would not reveal the bishop’s identity, a recent article of the Episcopal News Service identified him, stating it was confirmed by several sources. I have met this man as I interviewed him for a thesis that I wrote in seminary on the Episcopal church’s response to gun violence. Before he was a bishop, he was a priest and before he was a priest, he was a cop. He was a good conversation partner for my thesis. However, when something like this happens at the top of our ecclesiastical ladder, the people below always end up feeling like punishment is warranted. It is no different than the cry of the Psalmist: To inflict on them the judgment decreed; * this is glory for all his faithful people. Hallelujah! Where is the inflicting of judgment? When does this get to happen? Why hasn’t God or humanity shown up to inflict shame? You see, there is some part of us being human that we want to see shame. And of course, this doesn’t just concern sins that are sexual in nature. (And many men weary of hearing about sexual perpetrated sins, and women weary of living them.) I am talking about ALL the ways we can behave badly toward each other. These are simply recent examples. But God’s way of salvation, it turns out, is not simply about judgment, but about honesty and reconciliation. Or maybe, God’s judgment IS a call to honesty and then reconciliation. There are ways that we can live this reconciliation on biblical grounds. The biggest example of such reconciliation that I can think of in recent history was the Truth and Reconciliation Commission led by Bishop Tutu in South Africa. It wasn’t perfect, but it was as biblical as it could get. Maybe after the crumbling of apartheid, the people knew there was no punishment that ever could be meted out that would ever match the pain, loss, and terror of the apartheid system. The best you could do was tell your truth to the people who injured you. And in doing so, to open the space for them to acknowledge that they did so, to see the effect of their actions and, perhaps, to repent. And the person leading it, Bishop Tutu, was worth his salt--- a truly Godly man. The Episcopal church could probably improve its system. There should be a safe way for accusers to confront their offenders and tell truth to power. It seems like it would be a natural outgrowth of our basic baptismal vows. If the end point that we are aiming for is reconciliation rather than shame, that should be the basis. But what of us? We are not this bishop, nor this lay person. You may have never lived anything like this. Still, we do make our own missteps and cause our own harms, don’t we? Small and sometimes great. Where is the salvation in it all? The key lies in the last few lines of our Gospel: Again, truly I tell you, if two of you agree on earth about anything you ask, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them. Though we often think of this line as having to do with prayer, Jesus is referring here to the joining together of his followers to hold one another accountable. To hear each other when we have harmed one another; to own our behavior; to repent. This is what it means to be awake to salvation. To be awake to salvation is to be ready and willing to face the ways we do harm to one another, whether newsworthy, or just in our daily small missteps; to acknowledge the harm we do and the hurt we cause; and in so doing, to be open to the incredible news of a God who is ready not only to judge, but to forgive and to renew. To be awake to salvation is to be clear about who we are, never holding off the truth that we do wonderful things and awful things both; and to know that God is able to renew us and redeem us, and wills to do so, for the sake of our flourishing. Like the Truth and Reconciliation process led by Bishop Tutu, who was a living icon of both God’s justice AND mercy, God makes the SPACE for us to repent….and return… and LIVE. Thank God for that. Thank God for the salvation that is nearer to us now than ever – sinners all, that we are – awake to the ever-present possibility of repenting, and reconciling, and coming alive in Jesus Christ our Lord.

CGS on Hold Until Fall Catechesis of the Good Shepherd Montessori Atrium (CGS) will resume in the fall. Please be on the lookout for CGS training opportunities this summer and fall. CGS Atrium Featured in Diocese News All Saints Sharon Chapel's CGS atrium was featured in News from the Diocese. To read the article, click here: Let the Little Children Come to Me

Palm Sunday - April 2, 2023 Rev Sarah Colvin And here we are, once again at Golgotha, once again at the cross. Holy Week used to be a bigger deal than it is now. In some countries, you are still allowed to have an excused absence from work on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday in order to attend church, but not so much here. “Sarah, it is Palm Sunday, we are barely in Holy Week.” And you are right. But over the course of time, the church, in a very general sense, realized that not everyone was going to make the services of Holy Week. Thus, Palm Sunday became like its own mini-Holy Week, just jam-packed. The thought was that putting the Passion Gospel on Palm Sunday was the only way that people would otherwise hear this important Gospel if they didn’t come to church on Good Friday. Of course, there are exceptions; Orthodox Christians still only have the liturgy of the palms for Palm Sunday, without the Passion Narrative. Nowadays we rotate which Passion Gospel you hear on Palm Sunday; the Gospel of John’s version of the passion is always read on Good Friday. The liturgy of the palms brings out the glory laud and honor to Christ Jesus. The effect is that the emotional arc of the readings is from a giant high to a giant plummet. Jesus’ cry at his death in Matthew’s version, “Eli Eli, lama sabachthani?”----“ My God, My God, why have you deserted me?”—the first line from psalm 22 shows the nadir. And yet, and yet, along with Jesus’ cry, we also hear this: Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus. Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus. Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus. Each and everyone of us is made in the image of God. Our shared humanity includes a birthday that we have celebrated over the years, relationships with friends and loved ones, and also our deaths. Our lives are interwoven with those whose paths we cross. Many of us have witnessed and grieved many who have died before us, and we know that we too will die. Hopefully not with the same feeling of dereliction that Jesus suffered. Yet, well before our epitaphs are writ large, we are told to let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus. This passage is from what is called the Christ hymn of Philippians. Verses 6-11 are considered the hymn portion and they attest to who we think Christ is, and therefore why Christ is revered by Christians, and it forms the basis of our early creeds and even our later ones. Having the same mind be in us that was in Christ Jesus is what makes the whole Holy Week and Easter season different than just mourning that a beloved religious leader was killed. (Back to why we think Christ mattered). As much as death by crucifixion is horrid, over time there has come a realization that it is not necessarily what Romans and Pharisees did to Jesus, but it is our own being complicit with systems of oppression, of favoritism, of marginalizing the other that matter. Even for this congregation that has a history of deeply caring about racial inequities and reconciliation, what I am talking about goes beyond skin color and race relations in the United States. We are all part of the imago dei, the image of God. This has to do with how we treat the other, no matter who we are. I found a great meditative poem by Steve Garnaas-Holmes to be helpful: “Confession By a perversion of justice he was taken away. —Isaiah 53.8 God did not send Jesus to die. But I confess that in a musty place in my heart the lie that Jesus was meant to die suits me fine. Oh, I abhor the theology: God does not need more gore. But in my heart I confess I'm comfortable with others suffering for my sake. I rail against the idea that God needs a blood payment, that God planned a tragedy— a payoff instead of true forgiveness— and I say with my lips the cross is a lynching, a Nazi gas chamber, another police shooting. But secretly, I confess, I like my place of ease and safety. I'm addicted to my privilege. I let others suffer instead of me. Even as I protest I participate. I know God demands otherwise. But I live as if God meant for me to survive at the cost of others' lives. I confess: I am saved from the virus of evil; I also carry the virus. I stand at the foot of the cross with tears in my eyes and a hammer in my hand. May I die, forgiven, and be raised, changed.” We all participate. Even if it is as simple as wearing an item of clothing made in say Bangladesh, by nearly enslaved people in utter poverty. (Then again if we don’t purchase said clothing, does that person starve because of lack of means?) We have vicious webs of interconnection, they are complicated and ambiguous, and we all participate. There are no easy answers, but there are some better answers. What does it mean to have the same mind be in us that was in Christ Jesus? The verses that precede say, “If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy, make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus.” Paul then continues with the Christ hymn. Of course, there is no expectation that we will fulfill the verses that constitute the hymn, but we are to set our sights towards love, compassion, sympathy. As made in the image of God, and possessing goodness, our actions are not to be driven by selfish ambition and conceit. We are to look towards the interests of others and not our own. These are our marching orders as it were. There are few who achieve this, but this is our aim as Christians. Our aspiration shapes our behavior, even if we don’t always get there. These actions are the manifestations of God’s goodness. When we are remembered, let it be said of each of us that we love, we are compassionate and sympathetic and always look towards the interests of others. This is the mind of the Christ who in his own forsakenness, knew our forsakenness. He took flesh and knew the fear, the anxiety, the complexity, the travail that comes with being human. We are not alone. We are never alone. Jesus’s world was topsy turvy as well, as all centuries have been. There is nothing sacrosanct about our way of life that makes it God given. And there is nothing about our life now that means that God is not with us. God has not deserted us, never has, never will. God’s kingdom comes on earth by God’s actions, leading us to Jesus’ mind in the way of compassion, love, and sympathy.

As we prepare to enter into this sacred time of the year, we wanted to let you know about our plans for Holy Week. This is a time of year when we come together as a community, in a special way, to remember the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Whether you're a long-time member of our community or a brand-new visitor, we hope that you'll join us as we journey together to deepen our faith in unique and meaningful ways. Check out our Holy Week schedule below, and let us know if you have any questions or concerns. We're looking forward to seeing you there! Palm Sunday Sunday April 2, 10:30 a.m. All Saints - Sharon Chapel Maundy Thursday Thursday, April 6, 7:00 p.m. All Saints - Sharon Chapel Good Friday Friday, April 7, 7:00 p.m. All Saints - Sharon Chapel Holy Saturday Liturgy of the Light Celebration for families Saturday, April 8, 4:30 p.m. Location TBD Easter Vigil Saturday, April 8, 7:00 p.m. St. Luke’s Episcopal Church (8009 Fort Hunt) Easter Sunday Sunday, April 9, 10:30 a.m. All Saints - Sharon Chapel followed by kids Easter Egg Hunt

Lent 3A - March 12, 2023 Rev Sarah Colvin In this liturgical season before Easter, we are (always) in a Lenten wilderness, marked by Jesus 40 days in the wilderness, corresponding to Moses’ 40 days on the mountain and the Israelites 40 years wondering in the wilderness. Our reading from Exodus takes us to the heart of what being in the wilderness does to us. After a time, particularly if unplanned, it makes us at least grumpy and more likely causes us to rail against God. We are human; this seems to be what we do when things go badly. At this point in the book of Exodus, the Israelites have trusted Moses and have left Egypt and slavery and they are now literally, legitimately thirsty. Not having water is not an option for life. Yet, God is not so pleased with their complaining, which we see at the end of Psalm 95, They put me to the test, *
 though they had seen my works. The place names Massah and Meribah are puns on the Hebrew verbs, meaning to quarrel and to test. And yet, God stays in relationship with Israel, despite them quarreling and testing. The story goes on. Israel is loved by God. They are never forgotten in the wilderness of Exodus, thirsty or not, they are not forgotten. Moses is instructed to take his staff, take elders so that they too can bear witness, and hit a rock and voila- there is water. You don’t get much more provision than that. So, although God is not pleased; God still provides. Even when not so pleased and with tough talk, there is tenderness. Remember God is Triune. It is not that God of the Old Testament is mean, and Jesus is lovely. God, all of God, is compassionate and merciful. Remember Jesus also has a temper. But God’s love and compassion is never something we earn. This Sunday’s Gospel of the Samaritan woman shows us this in abundance. Jesus has a long conversation with a woman at midday when all his disciples are off somewhere—a woman of no real value, not even meriting a name in the story, a Samaritan at that, men and women didn’t just chat in mid-day at that time. And yet, despite what others, even we, might think and then pass judgment on her as a woman married multiple times, Jesus is kind and tender with her. There is not an element of judgement. Given the setting, the words that Jesus says are welcoming in many ways to the Samaritans. And so, Jesus, in exactly the same way as the portrayal of God in the Old Testament, is both kind and tender as well as able to be tough and demanding. We too may feel like we are in a wilderness. We are very recently back worshipping at All Saints Sharon Chapel; we are about 3 ½ months into it. In some very real ways, you (and now we, because I have joined you), we are in a wilderness, and we may be wondering how this is going to turn out. In whatever way that each of you tells the story of these last few years in church, there are some major stressors…. you have lost the rector you had for years, there is grief, you have come back in a building that in some ways kind of feels foreign, even as sweet and endearing as the name Church Robot is for the exposed HVAC. The sound system from the other church has kind of taken over the chancel. The buttresses and the HVAC have problems, there was poison ivy everywhere, wasps, and even the WIFI has issues. Now we could take Paul’s approach as seen in Romans. He is facing true persecution and speaking to people facing persecution. “And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.” I’m not sure about you, but speaking for myself, even in some of my more Christian moments, even when God’s love is poured into my heart, I don’t always follow that linear path of Paul’s—from suffering to endurance to character to hope. Sometimes instead I end up in anger or in despair. We can fall off the track entirely, and if we fall off the track it feels like we fail, or Jesus fails us, back to grumbling. Yet, instead here are some things that I think are really important: God /Jesus loves us individually and us as a church, despite all our brokenness… just like God loves the Samaritan woman, Nicodemus, and the grumbling Israelites— sometimes loving tenderly and sometimes more tough love. Because we (individually and as a church) are not fixed right now or next week or next year, does NOT mean Jesus does not love us. Remember: “But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us.” Just like the Samaritan woman, the fact that we are known to our very core and accepted, and Jesus still came for us means that we are loved. This gift of the crucified and risen Christ does not wait for us to get ourselves together. Truth of the matter, last I checked, we are all human and therefore, none of us is going to get ourselves together to earn God’s love. It isn’t earned! It is a gift freely given. God’s love, I think, works best in community, this is why we pray “Our Father… give us…” We can’t do this alone. Optimism comes from people; hope comes from God. Hope comes from God. We can’t keep that linear track from ‘suffering -> endurance-> character-> hope’ all by ourselves, we need each other. With each other, we have a chance, truly, a chance of having hope. “Christ died for us.” And who is the “us”, the “we”? I have used the us and we as this church, All Saints Sharon Chapel, but it is all of us… all of us… This Gospel story is one that truly portrays who Jesus is. A woman without value, who can be looked upon as a sinner, is the conversation partner of God without judgment. Is there anything more indicting for us than this? Do we dare to look at anyone else with judgment when God does not? Homeless people, trans kids, illegal aliens, Muslims, beggars, people with fleas, politicians (which ever party), Sikhs, prostitutes, drug users, alcoholics, psychotic patients, inmates, police officers—anyone you name. Any of these could substitute for our Samaritan woman above. We are these people. Christ died for us; there is no “them” … Christ died so that all, all people could come to know God. I’m not saying that I know that how all things will work out with this church, All Saints Sharon Chapel. Here’s what I do know. What I know is that we, this church, because I have hitched my pony to your wagon, this church is called to be the body of Christ in the world, and we are constantly figuring out what that looks likes, and this is no matter the physical plant, no matter who comes alongside to worship with us. And no, we don’t have unlimited energy, but we do have hope, and that may be better, and for that, ----thanks be to God.