February 1, 2022

Beloved in Christ:

In the Catechism on page 855 of the Book of Common Prayer, definitions of the different orders of ministry:  lay persons, bishops, priests and deacons, are published. Each definition is in terms of exploring the ministry of each order. During Lent this year, we will be learning, (some of us again) about all of the orders of ministry in our church and will also learn about the ministry of the Vestry and all lay ministries.  The ministry of the laity is this:  “The ministry of lay persons is to represent Christ and his Church; to bear witness to him wherever they may be; and, according to the gifts given them, to carry on Christ’s work of reconciliation in the world; and to take their place in the life, worship, and governance of the Church.”

This Sunday, February 6 at 9:30am, all members of Calvary are called to our Annual Parish Meeting, an event this congregation has been engaging in since 1860. This meeting is part of the ministry of taking your place in the governance of the Church. Most people might not see an Annual Meeting as a particularly spiritual time for them, but I would invite you to widen your definition of spirituality, and see this is a part of our common life, our fellowship, our community of faith. When we meet in this way we are doing so in the embrace of the Holy Spirit, and when we talk about such temporal things as an annual church budget, we are doing so within the crucible of parables like the ones Jesus tells in the 12th chapter of the Gospel according to Luke, which Jesus ends this way: “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”  We give a portion of our treasure to God’s work at Calvary, and we entrust our Vestry and standing committees to treat our treasure as our common purse, if you will, which we use to follow the call of the Spirit on this block and in our neighborhood and world.

The second spiritual act of this Annual Meeting will be the election of our new Vestry members. This is an outward and visible sign of the inward and spiritual grace of the power of community ministry among us, and your presence shows support of our current and retiring Vestry members and the members that will be elected on Sunday. In a faith community, we engage in the ministry of support and love of one another, whether we are members who come to church for worship on a Sunday, or attend only through a small group, or are elected leaders or heads of committees. Being a Vestry member is an important ministry in the way Episcopal churches are organized, and these past two years called on our Vestry to lead in new and very creative ways. The year ahead, while full of new ministries, potential, and vision, will undoubtedly still hold the reality of a pandemic in some manner. Our Vestry members need our prayers, our suggestions, our support, and they will feel the grace filled weight of accountability to the congregation who has elected them.

This meeting will be held via Zoom, once again. We are likely at the peak of the Omicron variant but a definitive declaration on that has not been made yet by the Minnesota Department of Health for our area, so meeting online will be safer and more interactive than holding a hybrid meeting. This is disappointing to me but I continue to hold on to God’s promise of presence and know that it is the right thing to do.  If you would normally look forward to sitting in Crawford Hall next to family and friends, please come online with those same people on Sunday morning. The zoom link and a pdf version of the Annual Report will be sent to each household at Calvary on Thursday, February 3.  If you would like to have a written copy of the Report, please give Linda Ortiz a call next week or drop by the church to pick one up.

A service of Morning Prayer will be live-streamed at 11:00am on February 6. I look forward to seeing your beautiful and beloved faces on Zoom this Sunday – let’s exercise our ministries!

in gratitude for each of you,

Beth+