Come Holy Spirit, Come
“’You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses…to the ends of the earth.’ When [Jesus] had said this, as they were watching, he was lifted up and a cloud took him out of their sight.” - Acts 1:8-9
In an interesting confluence of events, we celebrated the graduation of our 8th graders from Holy Spirit Episcopal School this week and today my son had his stepping up ceremony as he prepares for middle school in the fall. Today also happens to be Ascension Day on which we observe the end of Jesus’ earthly ministry after the resurrection as described in the verses from Acts above. Transitions almost always come with anticipation as well as with at least a little anxiety.
It may be that I have gotten so used to having to pivot and adjust over the last 14 months, but I am only excited about the new beginning we will have on Pentecost, May 23, when we celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit and the life of the church. We will have a new Sunday morning schedule and experience. Provided everything continues to go smoothly with the installation of equipment, we will no longer be pre-recording our 10:30 service, but instead will be streaming at that time. We will also add back in our 8:00 Rite I service as well.
Everything still won’t be completely back to normal as we continue to follow diocesan guidelines about seating and singing, but starting to stream the services now will mean that we will have gained a great deal of experience by the fall when everything will hopefully be starting back as normal. It will be a blessing to additionally be able to minister to those who can’t be with us physically henceforth. I am grateful to the Endowment Board for making it possible to purchase the A/V equipment! We will be reaching out to you by mail to make sure everyone in our community knows what to expect and to give you the opportunity to help support some of the other additional costs that come with this transition.
As so many new things are on our horizon, I pray that the Holy Spirit will come into our midst and guide us in all that is to come!
We love you and God loves you.