Greetings! I write this knowing that the tomb is empty, and our Lord Jesus Christ reigns. I pray that you all had a glorious Holy Week and Easter Day.
What a Lent we had this year! We were spared the sadness and shock of Lent 2020 when the virus forced us to cease our daily lunches and sermons on site, but we did not have the regular, full-blown Advent enterprise, either. No one worked in the kitchen, in food prep, serving, washing dishes, making desserts, etc. We didn’t make any money. We hired a catering company to replicate our chicken salad and our pimento cheese (using our original recipes), so that those few who came to hear the sermon in person could purchase a sacked lunch. The most difficult part was not knowing what, if anything, we could do for Lent this year. As you will recall, the COVID fog was still so thick back at the beginning of 2021.
I am grateful for the men and women who helped serve the lunches and worked as cashiers each day. We were few in number, but these volunteers provided folks a good lunch and enabled us to have a speaker’s table in the Refectory. God’s word was preached, and between those who sat in the Nave each day, and the hundreds who tuned in on Livestream or audio, many hearts and minds were fed rich spiritual food. I would sum up Lent 2021 as manna provided in the wilderness, even while our hearts were set on the meat pots and bread of our former ways (Exodus 16:2-3).
Please pray faithfully that the Lenten Lunch leaders of Lent 2022 will be made known. Pray for your own participation next year, and pray that God will call our next leaders. If you have ideas for potential candidates, please contact me, and if you are feeling a nudge by the Holy Spirit that you are one of our 2022 leaders, also please contact me at Carolyn@CathedralAdvent.com
Finally, we are making plans full steam ahead for our Women’s Retreat on August 27-29, 2021, at Children’s Harbor on Lake Martin. Because this is indeed a time of rest and restoration, many hands make light work, and we are looking for some more hands to help with the planning and the implementation of our weekend. Please let me know if you would like to be involved. This retreat is definitely not a wheel that needs re-inventing! It has been beautifully organized and orchestrated over the years, and I am praying many of us will be able to attend.
Be sure to read your Adventurer each week to stay informed about the next several phases of Sunday mornings at the Advent. Our leadership is carefully and prayerfully moving this parish towards a return to “full operations.” We are not there yet, but we will be moving in that direction.
I (almost) quote St. Paul and say to you all:
Finally, sisters, rejoice. Aim for restoration, comfort one another, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you. Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the saints greet you. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all (2 Corinthians 13:11-14).
—Carolyn Lankford