Letter from Lindy Dec 20

Beloved Pilgrims,

What a glorious Cantata we experienced the third Sunday of Advent. If the music of our fellow pilgrims did not spark joy in our hearts, I am not sure what else will! Thank you Nick, Danny and each and every musician who offered their gifts to usher us another step toward God’s miraculous movement of this Season. The songs are still ringing in my ears!

We continue to await with hope, peace and joy, now all part of our advent arsenal. Await the coming of the Incarnate One. And what better way to wait with anticipation and expectation, than to let our little children lead us. Which they will do this Sunday as we would never let pandemic disrupt our Children’s Pageant. Since I have seen “live” glimpses throughout these past Sundays, I cannot wait to experience the finished product. As much as the Galvez Christmas elves dropped the final masterpiece off earlier this week, Felix and I promised not to sneak a peek, so we can be as delighted with you in real time as possible. Can’t wait!

And after our tears of joy on Sunday, we invite you to join together Monday, December 21st, at 5:30pm on Pilgrim’s campus, to share and shed our tears of lament for all of our 2020 losses. We will carefully open the campus for our longest night service, “Labyrinth and Luminaries.” Please sign up HERE so that we can plan safely. If you plan to join us in person, please wear a mask to ensure the health of all who gather. Between the board of Deacons and Pilgrim staff, we will work to ensure all Pilgrim safety protocols. If you would like to participate, but not gather in person, we are setting up a virtual option for you to bear witness and add names to our ever-glowing, ever-growing luminary light.

The Longest Night Service is an audio file (HERE) that you can upload to your phone (and listen to with headphones on :) to follow the four movements of lament, individually while together. The movements will have you walking the labyrinth, making your own luminaries, writing the names of those on your heart this year, placing them on the drive/walk way up toward the sanctuary, all at your own pace. The final movement of the evening is an invitation to rest into the sanctuary for a time of prayer. We hope this experience will allow you to offer to God whatever pain and sorrow you hold in your hearts….if only for this evening. We pray the embers of hope might be rekindled therein.

After prayer, we invite you to bring a non-perishable food item for our newly installed Little Food Pantry, for when we extend ourselves in action toward alleviating suffering, we help to alleviate our own suffering souls. A bin will be placed on the patio for you to share your offering. Then greet your fellow Pilgrims at a safe distance.

So, join us by signing up. Wear a mask. Bring your phone and headphones. And let God light your way.

Our final worship offering will be our Christmas Eve service, Thursday, December 24, at 7pm HERE. As we share the stories and songs of the birth night of our Savior, this night we are...those who dream. Those who dream of an Advent and Christmas season where we will gather anew, sharing in our sacred rituals in person. Gathering at tables for a Christmas Eve potluck (choir first), scurrying into the sanctuary to find our places to tell and sing the story of this refugee family--Mary, Joseph, Jesus--finding a way to hold onto God’s promise of a new way. This day, this time is coming. We can feel its hope arising, just as the star in the east. Our Christmas Eve Offering will continue our COVID Relief support through CWS and Religious Coalition for Non-Violent Durham for two of the most vulnerable communities in Durham, the refugee and undocumented immigrant and recently released from incarceration communities. Please join us in extending our care.

Pilgrims, as challenging as this year has been, this season of Advent has rekindled the embers of hope--hope I have for you, hope I have for our community and our world, all of which have helped me find my own. Not at all surprising, as together we pray to our God who lights our way.

Hope, Peace, Joy and Love,

Pastor Lindy