​Church is a Team Sport

I love being part of a team, and have since I was young. Little kid softball teams gave way to cross country and track teams in middle school, which were eventually replaced by a solar bike team and women’s rugby team in high school. I loved all of it: how we rose and fell together, cheering my teammates on until I grew hoarse, the way we would exhaustedly feast together after a game or race. I especially loved the times on the rugby pitch when a play would come together just so, each of us dodging this way and that in formation, trusting our teammates enough that we would throw the ball backwards to someone we couldn’t see but knew they would arrive in time to catch it and carry us forward.

I haven’t continued with team sports as an adult, but in so many ways, parish ministry feels just like that. We rise and fall together, we cheer each other on, we feast together, and sometimes, when there’s enough grace, it all works just so. This work was never meant to be done alone: right from the beginning, Jesus sent folks out in pairs. One of the things I delight in at Resurrection is the way our lay leaders step up so wonderfully, forming a really solid team both with each other and with me. This couldn’t have been more clear (or necessary!) than during the early days of sheltering in place, when so many people stepped up in a thousand ways to help us carry on as a church.

And, as restrictions eased, our team began to grow in more ways. Whitney joined our staff in the spring of 2021, just before we resumed worship outdoors. That fall, Brad Gough arrived as a seminarian to serve with us. Late that year, Donald Schell began coming around, with ever-increasing frequency and enthusiasm, until he decided to formally join our community as an assisting priest in the spring of 2022. It felt amazing to have such a team gathered, and also to have all these wise and creative folks collaborating with by Tracy, Shannon, and eventually Jack, and all the goodness they each make possible. And then, this past spring, the abundance of grace continued as Martha Kuhlmann began joining us for worship.

I’ve never believed that God always gives us what we need — sometimes, as we see all too often, life is just hard. And, at the same time, there is the mystery of grace and providence. The Spirit is at work in ways we can’t begin to understand or predict, and what a gift that is. Martha’s arrival, and in particular her decision to share her love and care more and more generously here, has felt like one of those Spirit moments for me. Over the years, I’ve had the experience a couple of times of someone arriving in my life as if they were a fairy godparent, and yet are absolutely, wonderfully, real. Such has been my experience with Martha joining us at Resurrection, and I couldn’t be more grateful for the pastoral wisdom and creative spirit she brings to the community and to our team. This fall, she has decided to formally join us as an assisting priest here, which the vestry and Bishop Marc have enthusiastically approved. And so, this Sunday, we celebrate! We will say thank you, we will bless Martha, and we will pray together for all that is to come. What a gift, and what grace.

Love,

Liz+

A Sacramental Journey

My journey to Church of the Resurrection has been what I would call sacramental.

If you’ve been around the Episcopal church for a while you may be able to recite the Book of Common Prayer’s definition of a sacrament … or at least the first part of it. If you are new to the Episcopal church and the BCP, you may not have yet heard it.

“Sacraments are outward and visible signs of inward and spiritual grace, given by Christ as sure and certain means for receiving God’s grace.”

I have often used this definition when teaching about the sacraments acknowledged by our tradition: baptism, communion, confirmation, marriage, ordination, reconciliation, and prayers at the time of death.

Sacraments reveal something that is already true. The one being baptized already belongs to God. The couple getting married has already made their promises to each other. And, it has been said that, “Unless you are already a priest when you walk into the church on your ordination day, no bishop’s hands can make you one.”

So sacraments do not do anything. They make things official. They reveal something. And yet, and still, in God’s mysterious ways, they make God’s grace more real to us, more true for us.

When I came to Church of the Resurrection three days after my retirement from a community that I had served and loved for over 20 years, I was looking for a place to worship, to be fed by the preaching and the eucharistic meal. When a friend suggested I might also be looking for community, I was sure I was not ready for that.

And yet, and still, in God’s mysterious ways, something different happened. This community, Liz and Whitney and so many others, reached out to me and welcomed me. You did seem ready for me. I do not have words for how grateful I am.

Thank you Resurrection people for providing a place for me to hang my stole and share my gifts in a new community of faith and love. Thank you for claiming me as one of yours. On All Saints Sunday we make it official. But like a sacrament it is already true.

Blessings and love,

Martha+