Lent/Easter 2022 | Volume 84 | No. 1
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In This Issue
How do we cultivate hope on the way to the Cross? The Reverend Pauli Murray famously wrote, “Hope is a song in a weary throat” (Dark Testament: Verse 8). In this weary time, where are you seeing the possibilities or the reality of new life or new birth? As people of faith, we nurture our faith and our hope in community. What has proved durable and even thrived during this time, or perhaps helped you to weather the storm? What has changed or what has died that will help us find the reality of new life and new birth? This edition of the Colorado Episcopalian is an exploration of how and where we cultivate hope in a time of uncertainty.
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HOPE ON THE WAY TO THE CROSS
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This Wilderness Journey
by Bishop Kym Lucas
… they said, “Can God really spread a table in the wilderness?” Psalm 78:19
On the first Sunday of Lent, we in the Episcopal Church revisit the story of Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness. In this year’s reading from Luke, we read that “Jesus was led by the by the Spirit in the wilderness.” For me, this is a powerful reminder of how the “wilderness” experience is part of our faith and formation. Sometimes we end up there by happenstance; sometimes, the Spirit leads us there. And while we might encounter difficulty and temptation, God meets us there.
The pandemic, in many ways, has felt like being in the wilderness: the path has been unclear, we have experienced a new vulnerability, and many of us have worried about our survival. In the midst of our anxiety, we may have been tempted to say, “Can God really spread a table in the wilderness?”
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Finding Hope in the Chaos
by Chad Morris
Sometimes I look around and think we’ve lost sight of things and maybe forgotten what matters, forgotten what leads to a fruitful and joy-filled life. It is easy to lose sight of things when we’re all so busy. We’re rushing around, doing our thing, being functional citizens in society. On top of that, we’re still dealing with an ongoing pandemic, accelerating climate change, and a political landscape so riven with conflict and the threat of violence that survivors of World War II are ringing the alarm bells.
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Epiphany: A Season of Turning
by Betty Rich
I was smiling as I walked to my car after Sunday morning worship January 9, Epiphany Sunday, at St. Stephen’s in Aurora. We had watched Bill, George, and John (choir members) process down the aisle, each singing a verse of “We Three Kings.” Normally dressed in choir robes, they were adorned that Sunday in rich colors of silk brocade and elaborate head gear, befitting Western notions of oriental kings. As I drove home, however, I became aware that the tune playing in the back of my mind was not “We Three Kings,” but rather the chorus of “Turn! Turn! Turn!” — the Byrds’ rendition of a song Pete Seeger made famous in 1965, his lyrics taken from Ecclesiastes:
To everything (turn, turn, turn)
There is a season (turn, turn, turn)
And a time to every purpose under Heaven.
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Hope Springs Ethereal
by the Rev. Gary Stoddard, Deacon
Being a deacon of five years has given me a unique perspective of how God works. Being a spiritual director, part of that time, has grown my perspective of how God reaches people, and holds on to them, even more. Take Charlie, for example. I call him my “COVID Convert.” He also happens to be a relative. He called me up one day and asked me if he could come to church with me. Charlie, mind you, hasn’t been to church since he was in grade school.
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Hope: A Dialogue Across the (Continental) Divide
by the Rev. Wendy Huber and the Rev. Mary Kate Rejouis
In 1972, as the Episcopal Church began ordaining women to clergy roles, a Roman Catholic priest, Henri J. M. Nouwen, published an important book, The Wounded Healer: Ministry in Contemporary Society. Nouwen’s meaningful and simple book begins with a stark call:
For all ministers are called to recognize the sufferings of their time in their own hearts, and make to that recognition the starting point of their service. Whether we try to enter into a dislocated world, relate to a convulsive generation, or speak to a dying person, our service will not be perceived as authentic unless it comes from a heart wounded by the suffering about which we speak. Thus, nothing can be written about ministry without a deeper understanding of the ways in which ministers can make their own wounds available as a source of healing.
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Caring for Our Afghan Neighbors
by the Rev. Nancey Johnson Bookstein, Deacon, & Larry Bangs
In August 2021, a bomb went off in the Kabul airport in Afghanistan, changing lives radically and forever. Here in Colorado, we watched with horror for days, on every news channel.
In October, a staff member at Holy Comforter Episcopal Church received a flier about ways for churches to respond to this disaster. Most of the refugees fleeing Afghanistan had been placed in temporary quarters at military installations around the world, waiting for new homes in receiving countries. Soon, thousands of families were being airlifted to safety in the United States. Many of the refugees had supported U.S. efforts in Afghanistan during the 20 years of our presence there. Because of that, their lives and the lives of their families were in danger.
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Connect With Us
Do you have comments, suggestions, or feedback that would be helpful to us as we offer future articles and content? Please contact Mike Orr, Canon for Communications & Evangelism, at Communications@EpiscopalColorado.org.
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