Weekly Clergy Letter from Mother Anne Turner

Dear Friends in Christ,

 

This coming Sunday bears many names—Laetare Sunday (from the first word of the Latin introit, meaning “rejoice”), Rose Sunday (from the special pink vestments worn in some churches), or Mothering Sunday (from the tradition of returning to visit the church of one’s baptism, or the “mother” church).

 

This year, one name in particular speaks to me: Refreshment Sunday.

 

I need refreshment.

 

Like many of you, I find myself worn out by the circumstances of our world.  Whiplashing civic change and political acrimony create a miasma of anxiety around us all.  I find myself braced for action but uncertain about what action to take.

 

This extraordinary stress comes on top of the ordinary stress of life in Northern Virginia.  A friend once described this area as a place where people undertake terrible commutes to work long hours to try to pay for homes they can’t afford.

 

The temptation is to assume that exhaustion is normal.  The temptation is to assume that we will always be this way.  The temptation is to give up hope.

 

But this coming Sunday reminds me that there is more than struggle.  Even when our lives are hard, God wants to refresh us.  Even in the middle of Lent, the church calendar reminds us that there is reason for renewal.  Hope is not just a seasonal visitor in Eastertide.  It is the way God works all the time, reaching into every darkness, bringing forth light, over and over and over and over.

 

I hope that you will find refreshment this weekend.  I hope you will let you spirits be lifted by the trees in bloom and the lengthening days.  I hope you will be nurtured by leisure time with the people you love.  And I especially hope that you will be inspired by the gospel shared in our Sunday worship together.

 

Because we need refreshment, don’t we?  If we are to engage the challenges of this life, we need to nurture and fortify our souls.    The world around us needs the witness of Christianity, and which means it needs my witness as a Christian, and yours, too.  We cannot let our spirits be diminished or our hopes be eroded.

 

Let God revive you where you are most weary.  May the Spirit fall fresh upon us all.

 

Yours in Christ,

Anne+