March 30, 2020
Dear St. Mary’s Church and friends,
This letter and packet will take the place of April’s Magnificat. Part of this packet is a booklet of devotionals for Holy Week and Easter, as well as a palm that has been folded into a cross by the ever-generous Amanda Crawford and then blessed by me according to the Palm Sunday rite. In this letter I’ll give some explanation about the prayers, followed by some general updates on the Church.
First, I want to acknowledge that most routines have been overturned. Many congregations are doing their best to find ways to go on with business as usual—at least “as usual” as they can manage. But while the routines our church family has together are upset—the normal times of prayer and worship—I wonder if this might be a time when the Lord strengthens other routines you have with him. People are often nervous about routines and disciplines. They don’t think we should just go through the motions if we don’t mean it, if we don’t feel it. Now, I certainly hope you have that earth-shattering moment of encounter with the Lord. Grace often breaks in, seemingly out of nowhere. But then we have to learn how to walk day by day in the light of that grace. The great things our Lord Jesus Christ has done for us have to be woven into the whole fabric of our lives. The routines of life in the Church are a part of that. However, could the Lord strengthen the routines you have in your home? I know the good people of St. Mary’s Church pray. Are your prayers only ad hoc, though—when you’re driving to the grocery store or when you hear sirens pass by your house? Do you have regular times for prayer each day? If you live with others, do you regularly pray together? Is worship something that mostly happens “at the Church” or is it an integral part of your household?
There is something I hope does not become a routine: these home devotionals for Holy Week and Easter. I hope you use them over the next couple weeks, and then you never have to use them again.
The packet includes devotionals for Palm Sunday (this coming Sunday, April 5), Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday. The prayers are roughly based on the proper liturgies for these great holy days, though adapted for home use. Dates and times are listed under the heading of each day’s devotional, and you can also find dates and times in the included calendar. You’re encouraged to pray at those times, so there’s a good group of us praying together—when the proper liturgies and Eucharist will be happening at the Church. But you can also say them whenever is convenient on those days.
The devotions may seem long, but I thought it would be easiest for everything to be together in one booklet. Don’t be intimidated. My guess is each day’s prayers will take about thirty minutes. Also, don’t worry about saying them “right.” Just do your best and know that the Lord loves you and graciously receives the offering, however humble.
The devotions are written so one person can read them straight through. If you’re saying these prayers by yourself, just read all of the parts. If more than one person says these prayers together, one person will be the leader (others can be chosen as readers for the passages of Scripture). The leader reads the parts that are in regular typeface, while everyone reads the italicized parts together. The leader might find it helpful to look over the prayers beforehand, as would anyone chosen to be a Scripture reader.
In other news: to state the obvious, we are still not having public services, and I don’t know when that will change. With that, our Easter Crawfish Boil has been cancelled, though I hope we’ll be able to reschedule it for May. Again, I’ll keep you posted.
We have a new website: “www.stmarysfranklin.net”! There is still plenty of work to do on the site, but I rushed to have some of it live, just so people get information faster about what’s happening with the Church. If anything does change, the website will be promptly updated. There are also recordings of sermons that can be played from the website (including this past Sunday, when it was just me and my family with the doors locked up). Also, under “Rector’s Notes” (the word “blog” is just too prosaic) you can find any Pastoral Letters our bishop sends to the diocese, as well as, eventually, more ruminations and reflections from your Rector.
You’ll find some other improvements when you get back. An extension was finished on the back deck, solving the problem of the perilous bricks people used to have to walk over. We finally have the microphone working again. And we are changing to LED bulbs in the chandeliers in the Church (the incandescent bulbs were actually a hazard with our setup). So I’m happy about those things, but mostly I just look forward to being able to gather with you again and worship the Lord.
Yours in the Lord,
The Rev. Fr. Stephen H. Crawford
Comments