Beloved in Christ:

My visit to Atlanta over the past week went well. It is always a long drive – now that my mother lives in independent living (in a wonderful retirement home built and opened by my home parish of St. Anne’s almost 40 years ago) I have no car to borrow anymore if I fly! I enjoy the drive – well, most of it, as a chance to travel familiar roads, sing loudly by myself to various Broadway tunes, see how our country moves from prairie to flatland to rolling hills, the Appalachians, then the beginnings of the coastal plains. Atlanta was cooler than Minnesota the past few days, and they are not having a drought. It was a blessing to see green, lush gardens and healthy trees and be reminded that our drought will not last forever. Things will change. I was reminded of this saying:  When life is great, find joy and be grateful, for things always change; when life is tough, take hope, because things always change. Things are changing at Calvary as we transition to the fall program year, and in this case, I am finding joy and being grateful because we have some exciting opportunities on the calendar. For example…

September 10 – our Calvary Feast Day is Holy Cross Sunday! Come welcome Austin Ferguson, sing “Lift High the Cross” as loudly as you can at the end of the 10:30 service, and then reconnect with old friends and meet new members at our Annual Parish Picnic and 2nd Annual Pie Contest – the weather promises to be beautiful in the Oasis Garden!

September 17 – Children’s Christian Formation makes an official return; under the leadership of Michelle McKean and several volunteers, we will have formation and outreach offerings for 4 year olds – 8th grade, with hopes for youth opportunities and a Christmas Children’s Choir! We will bless our teachers during the 10:30 service that day.

September 18 – Bishop Loya has invited all Minnesota Episcopalians to take part in a study of the Gospel according to Luke this fall. At Calvary, a group of lay people and clergy will share facilitating this study, all on Zoom. And surprise news!  Bishop Loya will attend at least one of our sessions himself. The whole study will be on Zoom so that everyone can take part, on Monday evenings at 7:00pm. Please email me asap if you would like to be a part of this fun, spiritual fulfilling and educational experiment as we join hundreds of people around the Diocese to learn more about this wonderful gospel story of the life of Christ. rector@calvary-rochester.org. 

September 24 – Our first Adult Forum of the fall will be in Crawford Hall from 9:15 – 10:15. Our leadership group of Nathan Spillers, Phil Einspahr and Beth Royalty will report on the news of the Mayo Clinic’s 4.5 billion dollar expansion which will eventually surround Calvary with amazing buildings and technology, and our response to the plans that our Mayo partners have been talking with us about for a few months. It’s important for me to say here, publically, that we have no plans at all to sell any portion of our land or structures to the Mayo Clinic. They  aren’t interested in buying Calvary, and we are not interested in selling Calvary. I have learned that people need to hear me say that out loud. This has been our neighborhood for almost 170 years and it continues to be our neighborhood. This is where God is calling us to be, and we will together discern what the Holy Spirit is up to in this time in our history. 

Looking ahead – Mark Sunday, October 8 for the Blessing of the Animals at 4:00pm.

Tough times, joyful times, anxious times, anticipatory times – God is with us. God is with us in all times. God in Christ meets us where we are, but never leaves us there. We are always called to do our work in God’s pushing, pulling, loving Spirit. Our time/God’s time. It’s always been that way. Together, we will live into God’s time.

With deepest love, faith, and hope!

Beth+