All Souls Weekly                 
Volume 1, Number 10, April 13, 2008

I recently spoke with a colleague who works at a very different kind of Episcopal Church. When I say “different,” I mean that his church seems very different from All Souls and it seems very different from any church I have ever attended. This colleague spoke of a kind of pressure he feels at his church to keep things light, happy, optimistic, and ever-encouraging. Music is never sung in a minor key. Depressing topics are avoided, and people complain if the sermons ever seem overly serious. 

While I’m certainly not advocating for dull worship, dreary preaching, or sad music, this conversation helped me to realize how much I treasure a church that welcomes all of me—my sadness and my joy, my heartache and my happiness. 

It seems entirely appropriate to me that this weekend we acknowledge the death of Philip Leonard even as we enter the church through a garden blooming with daffodils, tulips, Lenten roses, and hyacinths. It also seems perfectly fitting that every Sunday during the offertory, when the youngest children of the church bring forward the wine and bread, they come very close to our columbarium which contains the ashes of many of our beloved dead. Whenever we gather, it seems good that our liturgy contains language of life and death, language that mirrors our own experience of the world.  Life and death are mixed up with each other.

This Sunday one of the anthems sung by the choir is a setting of Psalm 130. The words will probably be familiar. “Out of the depths have I called to you, O Lord.” While the words of the entire psalm are brief, I imagine they represent a much longer time, a time in which the psalmist wrestles with faith, struggles to hope, and eventually finds comfort simply in waiting. There is company and companionship within the waiting, and in what must seem like a surprise, God is found in the waiting. 

I’m thankful that our church is one that allows us to wait together and to pray together. We acknowledge death, we celebrate life, and we look with hope and joy for the life to come. Honest faith allows us to plumb the depths and rise to new heights as we continue to follow in the way of our risen Lord Jesus Christ.   John Beddingfield

Your prayers are asked for . . . Mary Beth McCutcheon, Linda, Isaac Borocz, Delia Jokanovich, Jean Watson, Bryan Powell, Arthur (Buddy) Ball, Roger Dixon and family, Veronica Horn, Walter Jason, Martha Holdgate, Chip Meyers, Mary Backus, Mike Berman, Xavier de la Renaudiere, Trent, Owen Basil, Regina Dading, Julia Gutierrez, and Ted Field.  In addition to this prayer list, if you wish to participate in our ongoing Internet Prayer Circle please contact Vicki Lowe.

Around the Parish . . . Especially if you enter the church from the parking lot, be sure to walk around to the front of the church and notice the small garden that slopes downward from the sidewalk toward the building.  All kinds of things are blooming and growing there . . . If you walked by the church on Thursday of last week and heard beautiful music it was because a choir from James Madison University used our church as a practice space while the choir makes its spring tour . . . Attendance on Sunday, April 6 at 8:30 a.m.: 30, at 11:00 a.m.: 129. . . Total pledge offerings this week: $7,902.52.  The total plate offering: $631.00.

The Spirituality of Parenting . . . An unusually good edition of “Speaking of Faith” aired on National Public Radio last Sunday morning.  “The Spirituality of Parenting” can be heard at the archives section at  http://speakingoffaith.publicradio.org.

Talent Show for Episcopal Children’s Center . . . On Sunday, April 20 at 4:00 p.m. the Auxiliary Board of the Episcopal Center for Children will offer a Talent Show.  The Festivities will be in Hearst Hall Auditorium of the National Cathedral School.  Proceeds will benefit the Episcopal Center for Children, a private non-profit day treatment facility for emotionally troubled children and their families from the greater Washington, D.C. area.  More information can be found at www.eccofdc.org

Bishop Haines Memorial Service . . . The memorial service for the Right Reverend Ronald H. Haines, VII Bishop of Washington, will be on Saturday, April 26, 2008 at 2:00 p.m. at the Washington National Cathedral. An obituary for Bishop Haines is available at http://www.edow.org/news/window/2008/april/haines.html

Alistair So Installation Service . . . Your prayers and presence are requested for the Celebration of a New Ministry and the institution and induction of the Reverend Alistair Justin Lee Long So as the fortieth rector (the parish was organized in 1669) of All Hallows Parish, South River, in Davidsonville, Maryland on Saturday, April 26, 2008 at 11:00 a.m.  Father So served as a seminarian at All Souls Parish.

The Adult Forum at 10:00 a.m. on Sunday, April 13, “Crossing Borders: Living Out the Theology of Accompaniment” will be led by the Reverend Sarabeth Goodwin.  Mother Goodwin serves as the Latino missioner for La Misa Alegria, a Spanish-speaking congregation associated with St. Stephen and the Incarnation Episcopal Church on 16^th Street, NW.  Come hear her discuss her journey with this important ministry and how All Souls might be involved.

Liturgical Notes . . . During Eastertide (the season from Easter Sunday through the Day of Pentecost) the Paschal Candle burns near the high altar, there is no prayer of confession on Sundays, and the liturgy is filled with alleluias . . . The flowers at the High Altar and the Mary Chapel are given to the glory of God and in thanksgiving for the life of Philip Leonard by Tom Mabon.  The Sanctuary Candle also burns in memory of, and in thanksgiving for Philip Leonard. 

Elections for Vestry . . .  On Sunday, May 18, our parish family will gather for the annual meeting of the All Souls congregation to, among other things, elect a junior warden, who will serve a term of two years, and three members of the Vestry, who will serve three-year terms.  Nomination forms may be obtained from the parish office and can also be found in the April/May edition of The Message.

The Koinonia Young Adult Fellowship will have its monthly brunch on Sunday, April 20 at the home of Norman Whitmire in Alexandria, starting around 2:30 p.m.  This is a great time to introduce new friends to All Souls.  If you are interested in attending or know of someone who should be invited, please contact Norman.

The Bell Guild Needs You . . . The ranks of the Bell Guild have thinned, and in order to have our beautiful Tower Bells rung regularly for Sunday services we very much need new people. The time commitment and necessary skills are minimal but the rewards are resounding.  The benefits reverberate.  If you would like to try your hand, contact George Barnum at 202-986-2998.

Readings for the Daily Office come from the lectionary in the back of the Book of Common Prayer.  Psalms are traditionally read according to the headings in the Prayer Book corresponding to the day of the month. 

WEEKLY CALENDAR

All Souls Memorial Episcopal Church

The Reverend John Beddingfield, rector; The Reverend Christopher Worthley, adjunct clergy;

Mr. Isaac Borocz, parish administrator; Mr. Arthur Roach, interim director of music and organist;

Mr. Oscar Prado, sexton

 2300 Cathedral Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20008-1505

Voice: 202-232-4244, Fax: 202-232-8593

Email: allsouls1@aol.com

www.allsoulsdc.org

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