Dear Calvary-St. George’s,

Yesterday was an important holiday in the Christian year, The Feast of the Annunciation. This day marks our commemoration of the Archangel Gabriel, visiting the Virgin Mary and announcing that she would be the mother of Jesus, the Savior of the World and Mary’s faithfulness to be the “handmaiden of the Lord.” From the earliest days of the church, this was an important feast. We learn that Christ was begotten at the same time as his death, which was during the Jewish month of Nissan, which always overlaps March and April in the Gregorian calendar. So count nine months out from March 25th and you get Christmas on December 25th. Until the adoption of the Gregorian calendar, for many Christians, March 25th was New Year’s Day. In fact, it was England’s official New Year’s Day until 1752. 

I want to share with you three things we learn about God from the Annunciation that speak to us in the midst of a quarantine, when we are sequestered away and life is anything but normal.  

Credit: Matt Veligdan

First, we learn that God never forgets his promises.

It was over 400 years since God had last spoken to his people and while, from our standards, that is a really long time, it does not change the fact that he had not forgotten his promises.

Second, we learn that God always works in ways that go unnoticed by the rest of the world.

Nobody in the Roman World knew that the Archangel Gabriel had visited a Jewish teenage peasant girl. Nobody noticed that the Savior of the World entered it through the womb, in a backwater town in the backwater part of the Empire.

When God works, he always does big things, in small and insignificant ways.

One of the things that I am trying to stay focused on during this time is where I see God at work right now. I will be honest. It is not in the big things; it is in the little things, such as:

• a woman buying a homeless man who hadn’t eaten since Monday a sandwich today at the bodega,

• unnoticed stories about how people have exercised extraordinary acts of kindness and care in hospitals across the world,

• all of you who have been gathering online to pray and encourage one another with the presence of the church and the hope of the Gospel.

Third, we learn that God is not afraid to get messy and gets in our messes.

Someone told a colleague of mine, “I am so angry at God right now because everything in my life is falling apart.” If you are angry with God right now that is fine; he can handle it. However, never forget:

Jesus did not enter into our world to make our lives necessarily better. He entered into our world to make it brand new.

The Annunciation reminds us that Jesus has even stepped into this mess, and while we may have no idea what the future holds, you can trust that, in Jesus, while it may not be better, it will most certainly be brand new.

During this time, you can tune into our livestream events via calvarystgeorges.org. I also encourage everyone to join us on our Zoom conference calls from Monday to Friday at 6 p.m. If you need pastoral care, please call the church office on 646-723-4178 or email us at info@calstg.org.

Pax,

The Reverend Jacob A. Smith

Dear Calvary-St. George’s,

In times like these, we need as much clarity as possible, therefore I have waited to send something out in order to avoid rumors and having to back-track, which only leads to more confusion. In this e-mail, I want to share with you how we, as Christians, have handled pandemics in the past and, in light of that, how we as a congregation will handle our current COVID-19 pandemic for the time being.

In an age of accessible antibiotics, Urgent Care, people just “passing,” and pandemics being things that happen on the other side of the globe, a situation like this can bring us face-to face-with the finiteness of life in an anxiety-producing way. The notion that you are going to die can all of sudden become very, very real. The church historically has faced pandemics, such as leprosy and other plagues, with tremendous faith and courage. As a matter of fact, it was the churches’ willingness to wisely and faithfully care for the sick and not panic in the shadow of death that became a powerful witness to the pagan world. 

The Book of Common Prayer articulates the reason behind the church’s courage:

Credit: @rjimageryphoto

“For to your faithful people, O Lord, life is changed, not ended; and when our mortal body lies in death, there is prepared for us a dwelling place eternal in the heavens.”

We believe the Gospel! The Gospel tells us that our deaths are already behind us as a result of being baptized in Jesus Christ. Never forget, you are already buried with Jesus in his death and will be raised with him in the resurrection from the dead (Romans 6 and Colossians 2). Anyone can trust God with their lives; as Christians we trust God with our deaths.

Hence, with the reality of COVID-19 in our city, we can receive each day as a gift from God and—with and despite our anxieties—offer ourselves up to serve Jesus in the face of our neighbors.

Therefore, we at Calvary-St. George’s will face the challenge of COVID-19 with both wisdom and courage. We are canceling all non-worship activities in the parish, including Sunday School, Devotion Groups and the Muhlenberg Lenten Reflections. However, our Common Table will continue to operate in limited capacity so that we don’t ignore those most vulnerable and we will be in contact with our A. A. communities and assess our capacity to host on a week-by-week basis.

Ben will live-stream a Devotion Group talk and Chelsy will live-stream our Sunday School lessons, which will also be available on our Facebook page and Youtube channel. Our Sunday services will also be streamed on the same platforms.

It is important for us to gather on Sunday and worship God, whether it is at church or at home. This is when the rubber hits the road. So we will still have Sunday services, however, we will be offering Morning Prayer, instead of Holy Communion. Morning Prayer was the principle service in most Episcopal Churches, including both Calvary and St. George’s until 1979. We encourage everyone to share the peace with a nod or a wave, and before you come to church, remember James 4:8,  “… wash your hands, you sinners.” As a staff, we will reevaluate everything after Lent V and keep you posted as we move forward.

In regards to prayer, please join us in praying for the following:

• The Lord’ intervention in this outbreak

• The total healing of those infected with coronavirus

• The Lord’s protection for those most vulnerable

• Wisdom, guidance, and protection for healthcare workers and government officials

Finally, it is becoming more difficult for the clergy to get into hospitals—nevertheless, we will do all that we can. In the meantime, if you need prayer for healing and/or would like to schedule an appointment for prayer and counsel, please do not hesitate to call the church office. Ben and I would be happy to schedule an appointment.

Pax,

The Reverend Jacob A. Smith

This month, we’re focusing on our financial commitment to the ministry of Calvary-St. George’s Church in the year ahead. And as a means of making this focus, Jacob and Ben and I are preaching a sermon series on “Mission: Immeasurable.” This Sunday, we’re delving deep into “Immeasurable Joy because of the Gospel.”

However, this coming Sunday, it looks at first as though it’s a bit of a stretch to see much joy or thanksgiving to make a pledge. 

Here’s why. If I were to ask you to make a list of the things you have prayed about that have not come to pass, how long would your list be?

That’s why, at first glance, the lessons for this coming Sunday are a problem. It seems as though Scripture is telling us that if we pray hard enough, and long enough, and in the right way, we’ll get what we pray for. It seems as though we are being told that the key to answered prayer is our own ability to pray hard and long and right.

So what about my wonderful Christian friend who had leukemia and who had hundreds of people praying for her and who died at the age of 35, leaving behind a devoted husband and three young children?

Right here, of course, you can add all sorts of examples of your own, as well as stories of feeling like dropping out of this whole Christian business when our prayers seem to fall on deaf ears.  

That’s why you and I really need to be in church together this Sunday, along with all of our unanswered prayers. Because waiting for us at Calvary-St. George’s will be:

• One who prayed harder and longer and better than you and I ever have.

• One who had his own (temporarily) unanswered prayer - “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”

• One who utterly identifies stands beside us with our own (temporarily) unanswered prayers.

• One whose grace is the deepest answer to our deepest prayers, prayers that finally are always answered.

Because, as the writer Anne Lamott puts it, “God’s grace bats last.”

See you Sunday morning!  

- Jim

P.S. Here are two other writers who will help us see God’s grace this Sunday: Watty Piper and Francis Thompson. I’ll have a prize for whoever can tell me the books by these fellows that I’ll reference.

P.P.S. If you won’t want to make a pledge by the end of our worship this Sunday in thanksgiving for God’s Amazing Grace, I’ll eat my socks.