March Rector’s Letter
Dear Parish Family,
Malawi Zoom
Tomorrow morning, Wed, March 6 at 9:30am, everyone is invited to join us in conversation with our friends in Malawi. Join us by clicking here. We will be talking with our brothers and sisters there who will be sharing with us about what the scholarships we have given for many years have meant to them. We will hear some updates from Bishop Fanuel on the house we’ve building in Kanjuchi. It promises to be a great time of sharing. Hope you can join in!
The Expansion
Everyone in the Parish will be receiving an invitation soon to one of 15 gatherings in people's homes to discuss our upcoming capital campaign and expansion. The campaign materials are coming in and they look amazing. We’ve finalized a floorpan with our architects. The first City of Southlake submittals have gone in. We are really moving and we want to share with you the amazing work that is being done! You are going to love everything that our very talented Church family has come up with. Be on the lookout for an invitation to an upcoming event.
Lent is Well Underway
The 40 days of Lent are nearly halfway over. If Lent never began for you, it’s not too late! It’s not too late to lean in to the disciplines of Lent: fasting, prayer, almsgiving, repentance for our sins, and reading and meditating on God’s holy word. If you didn’t do anything “Lenten” during the first half of Lent, then do something for the second half!
As a suggestion, consider clicking here to pray along with the church. The link goes to what’s called the daily office, the prayers that the church offers day by day. The rhythm of daily prayer contained in the Book of Common Prayer is right at the heart of Anglicanism. We understand that when Jesus invites us to “take up our crosses daily”(Luke 9:23) that part of what he has in mind is the daily discipline of prayer and the study of Holy Scripture, all of which is contained in the daily office. There are a million other things you can do for the remainder of Lent but whatever you do—do something!
The St. Laurence Chorale
The St. Laurence Chorale performed Dubois’ Seven Last Words on Sunday evening and it was amazing. If you missed it, you really missed something special that happened at your Church. If you came, I’m sure you agree with me that it was moving and inspiring in a rarefied way. The piece of music that was sung reflected on the 7 expressions, or phrases, or words, that Jesus uttered while hanging on the cross. It was so beautiful. I’m so grateful to our choir and to our Choirmaster John Heimel for an incredible offering. Be on the lookout for more big pieces to come. The choir is on the move!
Holy Week
Holy Week begins on Palm Sunday, March 24. The Church spends the week each year that leads up to Easter intensifying our efforts at discipleship in order to gain a better understanding of what Jesus did for us. The liturgies of Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter walk us through step by step the saving work that Jesus did for us. We will be handing our Holy Week booklets soon, which will go over all of the details, but save the dates now. You won’t want to miss them.
Vestry and Staff Planning Day
Last Saturday, the Parish staff and vestry met together to make sure we have our priorities straight in our upcoming capital campaign for a new Parish Hall and the refurbishing of the old one. One of the biggest priorities that we have in sight is the fellowship we share at St. Laurence. Thus the desire that I highlighted above to invite every single family to a smaller more intimate gathering. Everyone, whether they can give $20 or $20,000 is going to be invited. We really want to include everyone on this. The other big priority is making sure that our expansion is for the greater glory of God. Yes, we are building it for us, we but are really building it for Him. We are hoping that everything that happens in our new building is for Him, and that through our ministry together lives are changed and people come to a deeper relationship with Jesus Christ.
It was a great discussion that we had together on Saturday. We are so blessed to have such incredible lay leaders here at St. Laurence. We are in very good hands.
Many blessings during this holy season of Lent.
Fr. John Jordan