In these final days of the Great Lent, greetings and peace be with you.
These are times of great disruption and change for our community. And through them, we are invited to experience resurrection in fresh ways. Unexpected opportunities arise and in them we discover the hope of Christ amidst all that seems hopeless. As we live through Holy Week and turn to the cross, I hope you find comfort in how Christ journeys through the pain and suffering alongside all humanity.
We will worship on Easter Sunday this week from our kitchen tables, study nooks, couches and patios. I hope you will join us online via Zoom or streaming through our website or Facebook page. We have begun to become acquainted with these tools and our worship is deepening as we are apart through these links and connections.
The traditional celebrations of the Last Supper (Maundy Thursday) and Tenebrae (Good Friday) are entirely online this year, as well. In collaboration with our Presbyterian church family in Bellingham, we have created some excellent resources for practicing our faith wherever we are. Please visit www.saintjamespres.org/holy-week to view/download/print materials for at-home services for both Thursday and Friday of Holy Week.
In this season, I believe it is our work to deepen our love for Christ through the way we interact and care for one another. We are called to bind ourselves together in community and the beauty of this Lenten season is that our faith has taken on very tangible, real practices — we have been compelled to respond to one another’s needs as Christ’s embodied hands and feet. Deepen your call to do justly, love mercifully, and walk humbly with God alongside all who are in need, all who cry out, all who are lonely, all who are sick.
And know that we are one in Christ, the suffering servant’s body, a great cloud of witnesses that bear forth the goodness of God to a hurting world.
Grace and peace,
Pastor Seth
Links for Connecting to St. James
- Holy Week at Home: http://www.saintjamespres.org/holy-week
- Live Service Stream: http://www.saintjamespres.org/live
- Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/saintjamespres
- Sign up to Help Others: http://www.saintjamespres.org/helping
- Tech Support Help: http://www.saintjamespres.org/tech-support
- Prayer Requests: Email pastor@saintjamespres.org