Dear friends in Christ,

As we enter into Holy Week I admit that I am feeling all the feels. Joy because the air is full of the sounds and smells of Spring, and hope because I know how the Easter story ends, at least on that first glorious resurrection Sunday when Jesus proved that death has no power over God's love. But in the midst of hope and joy, I am also feeling sad, disappointed, and overwhelmed by the sudden change to our everyday way of being. This was not how any of us had hoped to be spending our holiest days this year - or ever really - apart from one another, denied some of our most familiar embodied rituals, lamenting the loss of community, possibly even mourning the death of a friend or family member to Covid-19, all while still facing days of social distancing ahead of us with little idea as to when things might begin to feel normal again. We are stuck in the in between time, that already not yet. For that reason, I am incredibly grateful that our Episcopal tradition embraces the entirety of the passion story and not just the resurrection. We are living in a Good Friday, Holy Saturday moment where the world has been disrupted, our hearts have been broken, and while we know God is with us and at work in the world, we do not yet see the Easter sunrise.

The Rev. Erin Flinn

 NC Region Missionary eflinn@episcopalct.org

Mobile: 860-966-3742

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