This year, we find February liturgically mixed. For the better part of the month, we will be continuing through the season of Epiphany and all those wonderful accounts of how both our Lord’s divinity and his mission of love were “made manifest” during his earthly life, especially through his working of miracles. This all culminates on Sunday, February 22, with our remembrance of the Transfiguration, when Jesus appeared on the mountain in dazzling array with Moses and Elijah before a sleepy Peter, James and John.

Then, as Jesus himself did, we will turn our faces towards Jerusalem, entering into the season of Lent. Ash Wednesday is on February 25th this year, and at the four services that day (7 am, noon, 4:30 pm and 7:30 pm), we will invite everyone to observe a Holy Lent “by self-examination and repentance, by prayer, fasting, and self-denial and by reading and meditating on God’s holy Word” (BCP, p. 265). To facilitate this, the next five Wednesday evenings leading up to Holy Week, we will offer our annual Pot Luck and Study series 6:30-7:50 pm, capped off by Holy Communion and Unction at 8 pm. More on these next month.

In the meantime, we will also begin in advance another ancient Lenten practice: preparing candidates for Confirmation. This year, Jane Piver will be teaching the Adult Inquirers’ Class during the Sunday School hour (10:15-11:05 am in the Annex), while I will again be working with the young people (aged 12 and above) on Sunday evenings (5-6 pm in classroom A/B). Both classes will start on Sunday, February 8 and will meet weekly (with some breaks) through mid-June, leading up to Bishop Lee’s visitation on June 20th. We invite all interested adults and young people to join the appropriate class as a means of digging more deeply into our common faith and exploring together our personal commitments to Christ in preparation for making a public confession of these before the bishop and congregation in June.

Finally, I wanted to report that, after setting out the two sets of General Convention petitions over four successive Sundays, I mailed them off to Bishop Lee in November, along with an explanatory cover letter. He wrote back conveying his appreciation for the expression of both points of view, which ran approximately three to one against the actions of General Convention.

In subsequent conversations I have had with him in my capacity as Chairman of the Diocesan Commission on Liturgy and Music, he has indicated to me that Pohick’s response on this matter has been unique: whereas he has received petitions from individual congregations expressing the majority view of the parish, whether pro or con (again, running about three to one against GC), only from Pohick did he receive petitions expressing both viewpoints.

While he fully understands that I and a majority of our congregation disagree with his votes at Convention, as well as the rationale behind them, he has also expressed to me his personal gratitude for the more evenhanded manner with which we have tried to approach this matter at Pohick. From this beginning, I hope that we will succeed in our continuing efforts to foster a space for Christian charity and mutual respect amid our disagreements, while at the same time not in any way diluting those differing viewpoints.

Along these lines, because individual parishioners of both views have approached me desiring news about the national and international discussions revolving around General Convention—and because these are too voluminous in number to report upon regularly here—we have designed a new page on our website providing links to several of the major news outlets so that parishioners can individual explore these at their leisure. It can be accessed through the homepage, just underneath the image of our church building.

As I have said all along, however, while keeping abreast of all developments, we must continue to stay focused upon our ongoing mission and ministry here at Pohick, seeking to serve Christ in the many ways he has called us to serve, season by season, week by week, and day by day.

Faithfully,

Donald D. Binder+

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