Dear Students and Parents,
We are in the season of Pentecost. “Where has the Holy Spirit appeared in your life this summer?” is a question I have often asked our kids at the start of a new year. I do know a little bit about how we offered our time and attention to one another as a church family. Immediately after our online Pentecost celebration, which included photographs, recorded readings, an offertory anthem, and a sermon all given by students of St. Anne’s, we saw the fire of the Holy Spirit driving protestors into the streets across the nation.
Some church families gathered in Pierce Park and Maynard Center and Concord Center to demonstrate in local communities against the brutality suffered by George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbury, and Breonna Taylor and consider and/or proclaim the truth of the Black Lives Matter movement. A parent meeting, a Teen Formation meeting, an antiracism workshop for teens with Dr. Liza Talusan, and our new Racial Justice Allies commission led us online in examining our roles as followers of Christ. Families coordinated food preparation, donation, and summer yard toy collections for Maynard Backpack Program and St. Stephen’s B-SAFE summer camp. We also used our voices to proclaim the Word in weekly services — parents and children and teens. Some families performed in the second online Coffee House in June and the Teen Trivia Night in July. And of course, the Drive-In Movie Nights helped us process good vs. evil in “The Incredibles” and “How To Train Your Dragon.” That’s a lot. And it’s not everything.
Having a church family is the connection to the Holy Spirit that we need. I promise you, it is needed. We cannot, as parents and as kids, face the physical and mental call of this new school year without some commitment to one another. We see the love of God in familiar images of our church building, our chosen pasture, but as we’ve been separated from attendance in indoor spaces the spiritual connection of our community is called into work.
Do not doubt that you were called to our community. Garrett was recently called, and he reminded me this past week that I was called to this pasture as well. I came to St. Anne’s one August looking for a church home for my three kids — one to be born a few months later. Like you, we found that families grow in Spirit through practice. Like mental and physical good health, we can exercise spiritual health. There’s no one way to practice, however. Find a way into this new school year by committing to relationship with the Advocate, who was sent by Jesus Christ to his friends on the Feast of Pentecost. Commit to recognizing the Holy Spirit urging your own family to fortify love and listening in your home, counseling you toward effort and understanding for your school communities, finding awe and knowledge through service and advocacy. Our musical friend, Jon Small, is practicing now to offer a song familiar to our older students (once it gets in your head…) and will zoom-sing with our younger kids this month: “I See the Love of God in You.”
For a list of our faith and fellowship plans, click here.
Happy Back-to-School and Welcome Home – Again.
Sarah
Teen Trivia Night
Enjoying a drive-in movie in the parking lot
Another view of the drive-in
On Sunday, September 6, St. Anne’s teens and parents gathered outside to advocate for voting rights. Jesus Project teacher, Tricia Crockett offered a brief overview of the history of voting in the U.S. and then the group wrote a hundred postcards to registered Black voters in Texas with materials provided by Reclaim Our Vote. Reclaim Our Vote encourages volunteers to inform and mobilize voters of color to make sure they are registered and they know how to get a ballot and vote. It is a nonpartisan campaign of the nonprofit 501(c)3 Center for Common Ground.