“There seems to me only one way to begin – and that is talking about what for me has become a parable of this strange and wacky year. I am referring to the drive-in movie screen. Want to know what 2020 has been like? Look no further.”
From the Parish Administrator
How comforting to write these words from my office chair! Looking over these last six months, so much of my work has been done away from my big, broad desk here in the Parish Office, and it’s nice to be back among my scrawl-labeled file folders, jumbled bulletin board (whose Kalendar is still on April!), and hidden stash of smokehouse almonds.
I have been “on-campus” quite a bit, though – when we closed St. Anne’s in March, the painting of the exterior of the building had just begun.
From the Racial Justice Allies Initiative
In mid-June, 30+ parishioners gathered to form the Racial Justice Allies (RJA) group with the intention of exploring ways to take action at St. Anne’s to address racial injustice. The group has developed a vision statement to articulate our goals:
Racial Justice Allies Vision Statement
· We acknowledge the white supremacism on which our society and economy are built, rooted in 400 years of violence, indifference, and inaction.
· We believe in love, respect, repentance, and opening our hearts and minds to our fellow human beings.
· We commit to:
Listen, look, and reflect more deeply in order to take responsibility for liberating ourselves from our own biases.
Create opportunities to connect to, learn from and celebrate with communities of color.
Identify, support, and take actions to promote racial justice through social, economic, and environmental policy.
Update from the Music Director
I’ve been busy adapting to our strange new world—and I’ve learned how to make and edit videos! Each week I record a prelude and postlude; Jean and I record a hymn; and I also provide something for the anthem, which can be a newly-recorded solo, a recording from past years, or a “virtual choir” piece. This last option, where each singer appears in a box, is very labor-intensive: first I make a video that the singers sing along to as they record themselves, then I combine all the individual videos into one big movie. This complicated process really does give listeners the feeling that we are singing together, and so we gladly do the extra work—we want to keep our community happy and healthy while we tune in from home, looking forward to the day when we can be together again safely.
Update from the Bookkeeper
Your generous online giving through the St. Anne’s website is so heartwarming! If you are a new (or newer, or would-be) online donor, here are some aspects you may not know about.
Also, SSYP Pandemic Relief Fund is no longer accepting gifts for help for St. Stephen’s families suffering from the economic effects of the pandemic. If you have recently made a gift to St. Anne’s for the benefit of the SSYP Pandemic Relief Fund, your gift will be forwarded to St. Stephen’s for their ongoing mission to support their local families and children.
Update from the Communications Director
Out of all the church staff, COVID has changed my job the least: our communications already were sent via email, our website, Facebook, and Instagram. A big change for me is that with Greg's departure, I'll be doing tech for the 10am Sunday online service. I've had some practice runs, and I find it both comforting to be in our sanctuary and sad to not have happy voices greeting each other.
Update from the Children's Formation Director
We are in the season of Pentecost. “Where has the Holy Spirit appeared in your life this summer?” is a question I have often asked our kids at the start of a new year. I do know a little bit about how we offered our time and attention to one another as a church family. Immediately after our online Pentecost celebration, which included photographs, recorded readings, an offertory anthem, and a sermon all given by students of St. Anne’s, we saw the fire of the Holy Spirit driving protestors into the streets across the nation.
Rector's One-Year Reflection
What a year it’s been! It feels like it was just yesterday that Katie and I (and Hank) pulled up to the rectory and began unloading and unpacking and making this place our new home. We were so warmly welcomed, and from the start I had (and still have) an overwhelming sense of being where God wants me to be.
Senior Warden's Reflections
It’s hard to believe that the season is shifting from summer to fall, and as hard to believe that after six months, we are still needing to safely manage and navigate COVID 19 risk in all that we do as individuals and as a faith community. This has been a difficult time for all of us….
But I will go on to say that I feel proud that St. Anne’s has been able to slowly and successfully move forward over the past six months, and I would like to point to a few of our blessings.
Rector's Intro to Early Fall
Not long into quarantine a friend on a school board shared something she heard the head of school say as they were thinking about re-opening procedures: “We are living at the nexus of persistence and patience as we do our best to plan ahead.” I have very much felt to be at the intersection of persistence and patience. This is a challenging tension to live into – personally, I am much better at persistence. I love a good challenge, or a new opportunity for adaptive thinking. Patience is much more difficult, especially when life throws you into Patience’s classroom and you have no idea when class lets out.
Sicut cervus — G. P. da Palestrina (1525-1594)
Announcement from the Rector
As Christ’s body, we have been given the good work of raising up leaders and empowering them to serve in new ways and in new places. It’s always been a great sign of the life and Spirit present in our community that we do this — forming, equipping, and sending out leaders – and it’s been one of the key ways St. Anne’s in-the-Fields continues to serve our diocese. With this in mind, it’s something of bittersweet news that Greg has accepted a call to serve the people of St. John’s in Charlestown.
Pentecost 11 - Greg Johnston (8/16/20)
“Many people find comfort in the ideas of a divine plan or of the prosperity gospel. It’s comforting for many people to imagine that God must have a plan for everything. It’s comforting for many people to imagine that if they just stay strong and keep their faith, everything will be okay. It’s comforting, at least, until someone else uses these ideas to try to wipe away your pain. Hence the bittersweet title of Kate Bowler’s book: ‘Everything Happens for a Reason: And Other Lies I’ve Loved.’”
Pentecost 10 - Garrett Yates (8/9/20)
“If You Want to Walk on Water, You’ve Got to Get out of the Boat. That was the title, some years back, of a popular book written by John Ortberg. And the title reflects what is surely the most common take on this story. Peter had the right idea getting out of the boat, and stepping out on faith…Like Peter, we must heed this invitation, find the courage needed to swing our legs out over the boat’s side, and then step out into the waters…But something tells me this won’t do.”
Racial Justice Allies Vision Statement
In mid-June, 30+ parishioners gathered to form the Racial Justice Allies (RJA) group with the intention of exploring ways to take action at St. Anne’s to address racial injustice. Various activities are already underway, and we recently crafted a vision statement to articulate what we acknowledge, what we believe, and what we commit to doing.
Ave Verum Corpus
“Jesus shall reign where’er the sun” (Duke Street)
Wrestling with God - Pentecost 9 - Greg Johnston (8/2/20)
“Like every founding myth, in other words, Hamilton tells us at least as much about how we imagine ourselves today as it does about what happened years ago. And so I find it completely delightful that this bizarre tale from Genesis is how the Bible tells the story of the founding of the people of God. Because the moment when Jacob wrestles with God is like the Bible’s equivalent of the Declaration of Independence: it’s one of a handful of turning points in the relationship between God and humankind.“
S280. Glory to God in the highest
Our virtual choir leads us in the Gloria for worship in July and August.
Pentecost 8 - Greg Johnston (7/26/20)
“Back in late February and the first week of March, as we all made a few last trips to the grocery store, people stocked up on what they imagined to be the essentials. Some people filled their broom closets with toilet paper. I bought about 300 diapers. And all across America, yeast and flour disappeared from the grocery-store shelves.”