From our Priest in Charge
Sunday Worship
Holy Eucharist Rite 1...............8:00 am
Child Care ............... 9:15 am–12:00 pm
Choral Eucharist Rite 2......... 10:00 am
Christian Education
Sunday
Church School.......10:00 am-12:00 pm
Adult Forum..........11:15 am-12:00 pm
Tuesday
Bible Study .................................7:00 pm
Wednesday
God Talk ....................................8:30 am
Thursday
Bible Study .................................8:00 am
About The Spire
The Spire is published 10 times a
year by Church of the
Resurrection, Alexandria,
Virginia—monthly except for
combined summer and Christmas
issues. The deadline for submitting
copy is midnight on the 15th of the
preceding month.
The next The Spire deadline is
October 15 for the November
issue. Articles should be submitted
by e-mail to
[email protected].
All articles are subject to editing.
Resurrection’s newsletter team
includes Karl Boughan, Lea
Fowlie, Lenore Funkhouser, Kathy
Graham, Deena Jaworski, Kathy
Parnel, Susan Weber, Beth
Wiggers.
Are you sparkling yet?
On September 15, my first Sunday as our new Priest in Charge, I
preached about the dangers of possessions becoming “golden
calves,” how possessions can come to possess us. I wondered aloud if
we had made our building into a “golden calf ”—as our first Rector
Jim Green feared that we might—then I concluded that we had not. I
ended that sermon by sharing that our Re-Visioning Committee has
been given a spark, what I called “A tiny hint of a huge, crazy,
improbable idea” that “won’t go away.” And, I said, if we are “all
‘sparked up,’ God might change his mind about our future,” which
had been looking very bleak.
If you attended the Forum after the 10:00 am service on that day, you
heard some good-natured kidding about the members of the
Re-Visioning Committee being “sparklers,” or “sparkles,” or (the guys
suggested) “spark plugs.” I believe that this joking occurred because
each member of this committee absolutely radiated with passion
when they presented their “bold idea” for our future. “Tear down our
building,” they said (in essence), “and build a new one, with the
church on the ground floor and some type of ‘workforce housing’ on
the floors above.” One attendee even suggested that we were not
being Re-Visioned, but “transfigured.” This word means “transform
into something more beautiful or elevated,” glowing.
Will this idea work? Are there sufficient details available on which to
make a decision? We don’t know yet. We are engaged in one-on-one
conversations and offering the opportunity for you to talk with the
Re-Visioning Committee members. Collectively and individually, we
are discerning about the spark that has been presented to us.
Whatever conclusions you reach, I hope that you will become “all
sparked up” about what is happening at Resurrection. As I look
around the nave, the parish hall, and the grounds, I see signs of new
life and vitality. I see the same look in your eyes that I saw in the ReVisioning Committee members’ eyes: passion, hope, life.
Lenore and I were talking about this very subject at dinner last night
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