LEGO, Chalices & Baptisms

Dear Friends,

LEGO pieces have been everywhere this week. As I write this, in fact, our Builders are hard at work building jails to survive an earthquake, like the jail Paul and Silas found themselves in at Philippi (Acts 16). The earthquake will come in the form of a powered shake table. There weren’t many seminary classes on building one of those, but what a fun and joyful part of ministry it is. Flat Andy will likely post a video later today on his Instagram page.

On some very different portion of the spectrum, we’ve been planning how we are going to serve the consecrated wine, the very blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, in chalices this week, rather than the tiny cups we’ve been using for many moons. We’ve worked out a system that respects both the integrity of the sacramental symbol and accounts for the need to show care and safety given the continued reality of the pandemic. We’ll explain it in more detail at our Instructed Eucharist and Baptism on Sunday.

Speaking of, I want to make a special appeal to you to make a point of attending worship on Sunday — in-person or online — if you are able. We only do these instructed services once a year, and there is no better occasion to deepen your understanding and experience of worship. Even more, this year we be welcoming four new brothers and sisters in Christ through baptism (two at each service). It’s going to be a beautiful, joyous, and meaningful day.

In Christ,
Fr. Andrew