By the time you receive this edition of the Post, we will be well into the Season of Lent, with many of you, I'm sure, taking advantage of all the Lenten study offerings about which I wrote last month.

For those hitherto unable to participate in these, let me invite you to join us in any or all of the Adult Inquirers' classes on Sunday mornings, 10:30–11:05 am in the Annex, and in our Wednesday night Lenten series.

These last begin with a Potluck dinner at 6:30 pm, followed by a choice of three adult classes at 7:10: my class on Christian Contemplative Prayer, the Reverend Susan Hazen's course Headline News: Where's Jesus? and Jim Hayes' series, Lenten Reflections through Old Testament Heroes and Heroines. Concurrently, Lenten programs are offered for our Young People, and each evening is capped off in the church at 8 pm with a quiet Holy Eucharist that also incorporates the sacrament of Holy Unction for those in need of healing.

Our season rises to a fevered pitch during Holy Week, which commences on Palm Sunday (March 24), with our procession of Palms and our dramatic reading of Matthew's Passion Narrative. The observances continue with our usual midweek Eucharist on Holy Wednesday at 7:30 pm, followed on the next day with an Agape Meal in the parish house at 5:30 pm and the Maundy Thursday liturgy at 7:30 in the church.

On Good Friday, we will gather for the traditional three-hour vigil from noon to three, wherein we will walk the Stations of the Cross and partake of the Good Friday liturgy. Meditations on the crucifixion will be interspersed throughout the second half of the vigil. Members of the congregation are invited to share in as much of this service as their work schedules permit.
The service of Holy Baptism will be held on Holy Saturday at 4 pm, reflecting a custom of the Early Church, whose members viewed Baptism on this day as palpably symbolizing participation in Christ's death (Good Friday) and resurrection (Easter).

Our joyous celebration of Easter Sunday (March 31) begins early in the morning at 5:30 am, when we will light the Paschal Candle from a flame kindled at Washington National Cathedral, brought to Pohick by bikers, runners and walkers.

Festival Holy Eucharists follow at 8 am, 9:30 am and 11:15 am, with the flowering of the Cross and the presentation of the Mite Boxes taking place at the second of these celebrations. Between the two later services, we will be adding for the first time in many years an Easter Egg hunt for our Young People.

We hope that all of our congregation will renew and deepen their own spirituality through participation in these programs and worship services, as it was to this very end that our spiritual ancestors instituted the Season of Lent and annual observance of the Lord's Resurrection in the first place.

Before closing, I wanted to make good on my promise to issue to you periodic reports on how the Vestry is crafting our Strategic Plan, based upon the input we received from the congregation in January. While we were only able to make a beginning of our task at the Vestry Retreat and February Vestry meeting, we did take some initial steps that we are in a position to publish.

First of all, at my suggestion we added two words to our Parish Mission Statement to make more explicit our participation in worship, an area which, along with study and service, forms part of the traditional Anglican triad of ministry. As amended, our Parish Mission statement now reads (the addition is in italics): "The mission of Pohick Church is to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ, to advance the role of the Episcopal Church as an active participant in sharing the Gospel, and to create a nourishing Christian community of worship where Christ's love is experienced and taken beyond its walls."

Secondly, again at my suggestion the Vestry has added a tenth Commission, on Communication, that will deal with improving the way we communicate both with each other and with the outside world. While this Commission is still defining the groups it will need to create in order to generate and fulfill its objectives, the Vestry has made the logical move of placing the Web Page Committee, the Telephone Tree and the Pohick Post under this Commission's umbrella. The Commission is already off to a good start by issuing cell phones to the clergy and adding voice mail (including private voice mail) to our 339-6572 number.

Finally, the Vestry has made reassignments of the Commission chairs and co-chairs, taking care that each member of the Vestry take on only one such assignment, and that all members participate in Commission leadership. The new assignments are: Worship: the Rector and Don Barnett; Planning and Policy: John Godley and George Crump; Resources: John Pasour; Mission and Outreach: Charlotte Knipling and D'Andrea Wooten; Pastoral Care: Tom Mayberry; Christian Ed: Nicole Fluet and Elizabeth Wrona; Stewardship: Paula Johnson and Bruce Baird; Property: Randy Brooks and Warren Prados; Service and Fellowship: Diana Bland; Communications: Randy Cudworth.

As stated, we are currently only in the early draft stages of the new plan. However, I can additionally report from the feedback that we have received and hitherto considered that the congregation has seemed to have issued the Vestry mandates in at least three areas.
First, there appears to be a strong consensus that our Parish House needs to be expanded to incorporate more classroom space, more meeting areas, better acoustics, an updated kitchen, and room for a gift and book shop.

Second, in conjunction with these renovations, there is a strong sentiment that we explore the possibility of reestablishing a Parish Day School that would at least initially be housed in the Parish House during weekdays (I say reestablish because we actually had a school here in the 1960s).

Finally, there is a great desire within the congregation to find additional time on Sunday mornings for Christian Education for both children and adults.

There are many other areas we have yet to consider, and we will continue to do so in subsequent Vestry meetings. In the meantime, we continue to seek both your input and support as we prayerfully revise our plan with the overall goal of better fulfilling our Mission Statement.
May God bless us in this endeavor as we journey together with our Lord to Jerusalem during this Holy Season of Lent.