It’s mid-August and September is on the horizon, but it’s too early to let go of the chance that summer gives me to be less programmed and spend time with family and friends. I’m mentally balancing eking out these last two weeks of summer with preparing to teach three classes this fall and looking forward to a new Epiphany program year in September. I started that sentence thinking about it as an upcoming transition but am finding myself drawn to the idea of balancing:

How to get the most out of this time to catch my breath? To stop and reflect? To be still?

How to prepare for what’s to come so that I don’t miss opportunities? So that I’ve put the planning in to be free to engage what I’m looking forward to? 

And how to avoid letting my propensity to worry seep through the planning and drown out the moment to rest and reflect?

I don’t have answers to those questions (sorry to anyone who read this far hoping for an answer!). But I think there’s something to looking at it as a balance point rather than a transition. The chance to catch my breath and the preparation for what comes next are happening together and seems to add texture to both. 

I’m looking forward to what I see on my calendar for September: Rally Day, Midweek, the Parish Weekend Away, sitting on the floor sharing Godly Play stories with the church school children, Friday mornings at St. Luke’s. Even more so, I’m looking forward to seeing all of you.

In the meantime, it’s been wonderful seeing so many people this summer and seeing the steps full during the children’s sermon.

Nelia Newell

Perhaps you know that Jesus needed his own "me time." We hear this Sunday in Matthew's gospel that "after Jesus had dismissed the crowds, he went up the mountain by himself to pray." Finding time for personal prayer, meditation, openness to talking to and listening for God in ourselves is soul work—and we all need it. Prayer can look different for each person, but it is my prayer that you have this kind of "me time" for yourself. Maybe you're like Jesus and it's about getting to a quiet place for yourself; maybe you're someone who connects with God on a long run or a brisk hike; maybe you commune with God most clearly when serving others or sharing a meal with loved ones or putting pencil to paper. Whatever it is, you need it—I need it—to simply stay fully alive. This is our soul work, and as Jesus says: What does it profit someone to gain the whole world, but lose their soul? When you notice yourself getting close to that loss, you know how true it is that few things matter as much as tending to our souls. So, friends, make some time for yourself, perhaps with others, but let that "me time" be about connecting you with God's Spirit that is in you and nudges you towards a more abundant life. Beginning next week, I am taking time away to be with my family and out in the beauty of creation in northern Maine. You all will be in my prayers as I am away.

I look forward to returning over Labor Day weekend or shortly thereafter. On Sunday, September 10, we celebrate Rally Day. On that day, at the 10:00 am service, we will have a joyous service with baptisms and the Blessing of the Backpacks, as we begin a new school year. After the 10:00 am service, we will have a festive lunch provided by Bella Isla Café, a restaurant in Chelsea that we’ve partnered with over the years to engage food insecurity. Whether it’s been a week or a few years since you’ve joined for in-person worship at Epiphany, you won’t want to miss the joy and fellowship, the crafts, games, bounce houses, or your chance to see the rector (and maybe others) get wet in the Dunk Tank. I look forward to seeing you there! 

Nick

This past Sunday, I met with some of our youth over ice cream to brainstorm for the next program year. I asked them if they desired a space where they could share about their lives with others. (Because that’s my hope!) One of our teens said yes, but that she would feel more open to doing that if she felt like she knew the group more. That was such an honest and real answer. 

Sometimes I can be quick to make an assumption that just because it’s church, people will naturally want to share their lives with another. But as our wise teen noted, it’s easier to do that with some built-up trust and relationship first! As beautiful as our Sunday worship is together, that is just one opportunity of many to grow in friendship with one another. Our staff have met throughout this summer with a desire to have more intentional offerings in this next program year for community building. Whether that is through joining a Faith Circle (small groups launching this fall), a book group with other parents (talk to Bryn!), group theological study (Education for Ministry), sharing a meal at Midweek, serving together (St. Luke’s, The Dwelling Place, or The Malden Warming Center), or demographic-specific gatherings (parents, young adults, youth), there’s something for everyone. 

Our hope is that you would consider sharing your life with this community in new ways this next year. Barbara Brown Taylor once said, “in our embodied life together, the words of our doctrines take on flesh.” We actually practice and grow in our faith in the ways we are in community together. And as Pauli Murray said, “The marks of a community of faith are communion, participation, mutual trust, sharing, and fellowship.” In our society which is getting more and more isolated, it is an act of resistance to build community and share life with one another. Jesus certainly modeled that in his life. 

Friends, let’s be church to one another this next year!

With gratitude,
Rev. Janelle

Dear Friends,

The music at Parish of the Epiphany exists firstly because of your generosity, and for this we are grateful. I am writing to invite you to consider becoming a Friend of Music here at Epiphany. Friends of Music donations go into the Music Fund, which is used to supplement our music ministry; this fund enables us to offer special services such as Choral Evensong and Lessons & Carols, concerts both sacred and secular, and allows us to supplement festival services, all of this offered freely to the Glory of God and for the enrichment of the parish and larger community.

Friends of Music donors will, if they wish, be acknowledged in the printed programs of concerts and special services throughout the season. While it is helpful to receive donations at the beginning of the program year, we welcome donations of any amount at any time.

If you would like to fund a specific need, this is also possible and can be specifically acknowledged or not, as you wish. Perhaps you’d like to provide the funds for a brass quintet at our annual Lessons & Carols service (estimated cost is $3,500), or you might feel called to provide a string quartet for the 7:00 pm & 10:00 pm Christmas Eve services (estimated cost is $2,000); such musical adornments are not always possible depending on the annual budget. Your gift to the Music Fund as a Friend of Music helps ensure that we are able to offer our very best back to God and to the community.

Please consider giving today toward the vitality of our music ministry for tomorrow, a ministry which supports our passion to invite, welcome, and connect the larger community to our life here at Epiphany. I hope you agree, and that you will prayerfully consider becoming a Friend of Music for this upcoming season! The donation form can be printed out and submitted with your check; hard copies of the form will be available in the office and at the back of the church. Online donations are also possible, choosing the “Music Donations” option in the dropdown menu (please do still complete and return the donation form).

Please contact me directly with questions or ideas as we begin the Friends of Music at Epiphany. Many thanks for your continued support, and all best wishes for the remainder of the summer,

Jeremy Bruns

It doesn’t seem possible that out of compassion for refugees who were caught up in the United States’ abrupt withdrawal in August 2021 from two decades of presence in Afghanistan, a family of two adults with five children under 9 would land in Massachusetts. Ihsanullah and Zahida Rawan escaped their country and were eventually sponsored for resettlement through an organization called Ascentria Alliance. Working with six other faith communities in Winchester, a partnership was established under the name Winchester Interfaith Resettlement Partnership. Rev. Bob Davidson shared leadership duties with a member of Shir Tikvah Temple, and together they guided almost 70 volunteers to provide support for the Rawans beginning in February 2022. Over 20 of those volunteers came from Parish of the Epiphany and tirelessly gave of their time and heart to grow to love this amazing family as we witnessed their gradual integration into American culture.

After nearly 16 months with us, on June 24, the Rawan family (which now included a six-month old U.S. citizen) boarded an Amtrak train for their new home in Fredericksburg, Virginia. Our Interfaith partnership promised to help with securing housing and shipping their household goods, allowing the Rawans to settle into a three-bedroom apartment near several of their closest family. Summer will be a time for becoming familiar with their new location, finding work for Ihsanullah, and registering the school aged children in school and preschool. 

A unique opportunity for this resettlement partnership was that members of Jewish, Christian, and Muslim traditions worked together as a witness to our shared faith. The Rawans taught us all respect and admiration of their culture and Islamic traditions. Discovering how to deeply communicate with someone whose primary language is not English encouraged volunteers to create bonds not dependent on language. Finally, to see how excited particularly the children were with the simplest gift or new gadget helped us realize how truly privileged our lives are in America.

Will this mission experience of resettling an Afghan family leave a lasting mark on our parish, in addition to the volunteers whose lives will be forever changed? Hopefully, Parish of the Epiphany will build on the experience of working with other faith traditions, will continue to welcome diverse cultures and languages into our community, and will find ways to lose our grip on the privileges and entitlements of our daily life, which in the end had little to do with the love and hope we gave as gifts to the Rawan family.

Rev. Bob Davidson, co-lead
Winchester Interfaith Resettlement Partnership

A few weeks ago, a group of us ventured into the White Mountains of New Hampshire for our Youth Hut Hike. The weather forecast was charming: rain and overcast skies for the next three days. On the first day, we went on a day hike up to a summit. Even though it was just a day hike, we wore our backpacks, tested out our hiking boots, and got prepared for our bigger hike the next day. When we got to the top of the summit, we were in a cloud:


I had no idea what the view was supposed to be like, but the cloudy, overcast vibe was beautiful in its own right. We had no idea how high up we were or what any of the surroundings were like. 

A couple days later, John Jenke texted Ellen Wilson and me what the view was supposed to look like:


Wow! What a view! I literally had no idea that that was right in front of me.

In the church calendar, we are in a season called “Ordinary Time.” The liturgical colors are green, signifying life and growth. Most of the church calendar year is Ordinary Time. When I first heard about Ordinary Time, it confirmed for me something I had always felt. Not all of life is spectacular summit views; a lot of it is, well, ordinary. And that’s okay. Kind of like that day at the summit when there wasn’t any view at all. But just because we couldn’t see it that day doesn’t mean it’s not there. There are days when the beauty around us is more visible and other days when it might feel far away, but it’s still there. 

In these days when the light stretches late into the day, when memories of past summers feel like yesterday and forever ago, and in simple reminders like the joy of a popsicle on a hot day — God is with us. In the ordinary, mundane days, we learn to receive every moment as a gift from our Creator. Ordinary Time is here to remind us that most of life is, well, ordinary. What makes those ordinary days beautiful too, is the people we get to journey alongside. 

That day on the foggy summit — The view? Not great. The company? Incredible.

Here’s the secret: the ordinary days, those are sacred, too.

Peace to you,
Rev. Janelle

One of the gifts of this time of year is the invitation to make space for what is utmost importance. I know that our family is slowing down a bit to make space for rest and reconnection and renewal after a busy school year. Vacation, time away, dinner on the back porch, or a visit with friends helps make summer what it is. This time of year also allows me to make space to look towards the goals and vision for this coming program year. Not that I want to “get on with it” or “keep going”; rather, the slower pace helps make the space to think bigger and remember what is of utmost importance—keeping the main thing, the main thing. 

This is really all about the work of striving to live with purpose and rootedness in life. Whether it’s work or family life or serving our neighbors—I want my life to have integrity with my deepest values and vision. This time of year invites me to reflect upon: What do I want out of this life? What is the difference I want to make? What is the legacy I am creating for my family, or at Epiphany, within my larger community, this city, or the world? Click here to see a message from me on how you can leave a legacy at Epiphany.

This time of year can show us this blissful paradox: slowing down helps us get to where we actually want to go. 

Later this month, we will host the youth, children, and adults from St. Stephen’s Youth Program on Friday, July 28 as they spend a day with us at Epiphany and enjoy an afternoon at Shannon Beach. We invite you to sign-up, get involved, make space in your life to support, serve, or pray for this beautiful and important partnership. It takes all of us to make this kind of difference in the lives of these young ones, even if only for one day. It is a day filled with joy and laughter and rest for these kids and all who serve. It’s a day I often see so clearly what we are about, what I believe God calls us to be and do—by simply being our best selves. I hope you’ll sign up or reach out to know how you can serve.

This summer I invite you to slow down and remember who you are and what God is calling you to in your belovedness. Do you sense the abundant life that Jesus promises moving within you (John 10:10)? God wants you to be full alive—not half awake. At Epiphany, I want us to be a community that helps one another slow down to see very clearly where it is we actually want to go in this life—what legacy we want to leave behind and create for others. So, slow down, take a breath, let go, and discover a peace that is already yours—thanks be to God.

Peace is yours, 
Nick 

I love Summer Reading. I love taking my two kids to the public library to sign up for the Summer Reading Program, and get them their little check-box charts and free bookmarks. And I really love borrowing books—lots of books—and crafting my own pile of summer reads.

So far, I’ve got a solid stack. I have How to Hide an Empire as my history book; and The Emotional Lives of Teenagers as my parenting book. I’ve got Tales of Falling and Flying as my short story collection, and The Rent Collector as my “outside my field of view” book. I have a Brother Caedfel for my gentle mystery. I’m still in need of something great from the fantasy genre (taking recommendations!). And for ministry, I have The Art of Gathering (thinking Midweek 23-24’) and Professional Christian. 

I am ready: ready to get only part way through this stack, and end the summer wondering why long lazy days sitting on a swing with a book aren’t quite as numerous as Summer Reading blogs or displays at libraries and bookstores would make us think.

Knowing I won't finish my stack somehow doesn't lessen my pleasure in the planning and borrowing. Same goes for my other Summer Bucket List items: listen to ocean; grow garden; attend outdoor concert; pick berries; learn to serve fresh greens so kiddo will eat them. 

I was meditating on the whole idea of summer goals this week while reading poet Mary Oliver's lovely “The Summer Day.” She ends with these inspiring words:

I don't know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass, 
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day. 
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do 
with your one wild and precious life? 

I hope in the next weeks, you are idle and blessed; that you stroll in fields, touch grass, and listen to water move. That your summer reading pile gives you pleasure and never pressure. That your New England soul soaks in long hours of light. And I hope that you can feel all of these things—these summer moments, whether grabbed here and there, or luxuriated in—as prayers.

Blessings,
Bryn

I first sensed a call to be what I would now call a priest back when I was in college. At the time, this felt impossible. I grew up in a denomination that did not ordain women, I went to college to be a graphic designer, and I had an extreme fear of public speaking, and really just speaking in general. I felt that God would have to perform a miracle in order for this secret dream to become true one day. Following this call has been the adventure of a lifetime.

I moved away from my hometown of San Diego to move to Nashville, TN. In Nashville was where I found the church and priest that would encourage me and support me to go to seminary. I moved away from Nashville, a city I would have loved to stay in, to go to Atlanta to test out a call and to attend seminary at Candler School of Theology at Emory University. In Atlanta, I was received into the Episcopal church and interned at a church that became my sponsor parish. I also found many Episcopal priests who were excited to journey with me through the ordination process. And as you all know, I moved away from Atlanta to Boston to be with you all and my husband, Peter. 

Looking back on this journey, I am filled with gratitude. Though it has been scary and has required a lot of sacrifice, it has also been filled with the most loving communities that I wouldn’t have known had I not taken that next step forward. This Friday is my ordination to the priesthood which is formally a 5-year process, but a journey that I feel started much before then. I see this Friday as a celebration that God and home can be found in many different places. 

One of my favorite hymn writers, Shirley Erena Murray, has a hymn called "When We Lift Up Our Pack and Go.” The words to this hymn have been a companion to me along my journey that has involved a lot of goodbyes and hellos. The hymn goes like this:

“When we lift our pack and go,
       when we seek another country,
              moving far from all we know,
                     when we long to journey free --

Refrain:  God is in the other place,
       God is in another's face,
       in the faith we travel by,
       God is in the other place.

In the hands outstretched to greet,
       through the open doors of strangers
              there is love we yet can meet
                     and believe that Christ is there --

 Refrain:  God is in the other place,
       God is in another's face,
       in the faith we travel by,
       God is in the other place.”

Now I know that it is your faces that I have been preparing to know throughout this whole journey. What a gift to be called to this community! I hope to see you this Friday at Epiphany at 6:00 pm. 

If you are unable to attend in person, you may tune in via the livestream here.

With gratitude,
Rev. Janelle

On Sunday, many of us gathered after the 10:00 am service in Hadley Hall and on Zoom for a State of the Church conversation with Rev. Nick and the wardens. A special thank you to many of you who got there even though you hadn’t been at the 10:00 am service (yes, we noticed!). Rev. Nick opened with a reflection on the program year and possible next steps in our current activities, as well as some of the bigger questions about where we are going and the challenges we face.

One area that will have a major impact on our future as a church is stewardship. For our upcoming stewardship campaign, one of our challenges is to sustain pledge levels that support our current activities, as well as increases in staff salaries and inflationary increases across all of our costs. Historically, three households have contributed almost one-third of the pledges that fund our budget. Clearly, that is unsustainable and we will, in fact, see a reduction of about 10% of our budget next year. A key element of our stewardship campaign this fall will be small-group gatherings with the goal of building a greater awareness of how our individual pledges impact what we can do as a community, as well as engaging everyone in conversations about who we are and our priorities.

While stewardship addresses our immediate needs, one of our long-term needs centers around the repair and maintenance of our property and our endowment. Our property committee has been scrutinizing last year’s property assessment, and our current thinking is that our property repairs are roughly $3M over the next 10 years. Concurrently, our Endowment and Planned Giving Committee performed a short study comparing our endowment of $1M to other churches in the diocese of similar size and similar demographics. Based on that comparison, we are substantially underfunded. We do not have a buffer to absorb a down year. Our parish is funded from stewardship campaign to stewardship campaign. As a parish, we are doing the equivalent of living paycheck to paycheck. An increased endowment is an opportunity to fix that.  

One of the things that holds us back as a parish is that each year $250K of your stewardship dollars goes to utilities, maintenance, and repairs to our campus. An opportunity with the capital campaign is to raise enough of an endowment to offset some or even all of the annual building costs. A $6M endowment for our buildings would free up $250K each year, which could have a profound impact on furthering our programming, mission, and impact on society. 

Our Vestry is committed to addressing these challenges. For the capital campaign, the Vestry has approved funding for a campaign consultant to help plan and execute our capital campaign. Our first step will be a feasibility assessment, which we plan to start in the early fall. The planning stages of our capital and stewardship campaigns will be happening in parallel. Both campaigns will impact the overall direction of the church, which needs to be a shared vision with input from the full congregation. We will want to hear from you, probably multiple times. 

In closing, this is an exciting time for Epiphany. We have had a very strong ‘22/’23 program year which has been a source of joy and gratitude: our community is growing; wonderful things are happening; and there are many places in which God is calling us into deeper relationships and faith as a parish community. We are facing some challenges which we plan to address through stewardship and a capital campaign. While they focus on things like operating budgets and property endowments, in the end these campaigns are really about investing in the future of this vibrant, active and involved parish that we call Epiphany.

Thank you, 
Darwin Keith-Lucas & Nelia Newell