We’re in the last few weeks of Lent right now and starting to turn our thoughts toward Holy Week and the great celebration of the Easter Feast. There are a number of stories this week about congregations in the Episcopal Church doing extraordinary things for Lent. And a few about how the congregations are planning on new ministries in the coming Spring.
The award for the most dedicated to corporate spiritual discipline goes to the people of the Church of the Epiphany in Rumford, Rhode Island:
“Responding to a challenge from their rector, the Rev. Jennifer L. Pedrick, at least 70 parishioners have pledged, as a spiritual discipline, to de-clutter their homes, and not to buy any new stuff other than food, medicine and fuel.
A realistic goal? Ms. Pedrick says that only time will tell, but during the first week and a half, the campaign has been ‘incredibly successful.’
She has a poster on her office door, one side listing items parishioners have and want to give away, the other listing things people would like to receive. ‘It’s been up for a couple weeks but you see all sorts of things on the list,’ she says. ‘People are giving away TVs and record players. I hear people are doing a lot of un-cluttering.’”
From here. Do read the whole article. There are reports of some delightful discoveries that people who have accepted the discipline this Lent have made.
The people of St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Greenville SC have a special Lenten project that will keep on going into Easter season. They’re starting a community garden that will be both an inter-generational parish project and a resource for feeding hungry people in the community this summer and fall.
The garden, which was dedicated Feb. 27, is located on the 5-acre campus of St. Peter’s, on the edge of what used to be a soccer field.
“We have a natural divide, a terrace, where we’ve placed the garden project. We oriented it for the best sun and the best drainage,” said Ron Plemmons, one of the project leaders.
Inspired by a garden started by St. James Episcopal Church and with advice from area Master Gardeners, the St. Peter’s gardeners are building a ministry that feeds the hungry and “provides wholesome intergenerational fellowship in the name of Christ,” according to an invitation to the dedication.
A state or so away, Jenny Fife, a member of St. Elizabeth’s Episcopal Church in Roanoke was the coordinator for a community wide effort that gathered 21+ tons of food and packaged them into meals for more than 285,000 people in Haiti. Yep. 285,000. (That’s not a typo.) It took a whole day and 2,000 volunteers to pull off. And there were more volunteers than the teams could use. People were forced to wait in line to be able to help.
In a similarly inspiring, but smaller scale way, Amy Bleasdale, a high school junior and member of St. John’s Niantic CT spoke to the Connecticut Trial Lawyers of New London County last week about her experiences volunteering along with other High School students at the New London Meal Center. She says that she was nervous the first time she volunteered but quickly found out that there was nothing at all to nervous about. She told the lawyers how volunteering had enriched her life and how she hoped that they would follow her example.
The people of Holy Trinity Episcopal Church in Greensboro NC are involved in finding a way for that community to continue its involvement with Refugee resettlement work. Lutheran Family Services in that city recently announced it would no longer be able to provide that service. City, county and religious leaders are sitting down together at Holy Trinity to try to find a workable solution that will allow the work to continue.
And finally here in the Southwest, St. John’s in Bisbee AZ is looking for some unwanted art:
Liz Hampton, a member of St. John’s, announced the event called Art Has No Borders which will be held April 24 and April 25. Money raised through the auction will be given to the Episcopal Border Ministries, The Naco Migrant Resource Center, Humanitarian Border Solutions and The Naco Wellness Initiative, Hampton added. These organizations provide help for welcoming deported migrants, supply and maintain life-saving water stations in the Sonoran Desert and provide health care to border residents.
“We’ll take any sort of art from artists or from collectors,” said the Rev. Seth Polley. “I understand that artists are often asked to donate art for worthwhile causes. Please continue to be of support and direct your creative energy toward those who help migrants. Each recipient commits valuable resources of time and money to help those most affected by our current immigration crisis.”
Maybe you have something for them?
And maybe we need to get the people of St. John’s in Bisbee in touch with the people of Church of the Epiphany in Rumford eh?