{"id":898,"date":"2011-08-17T17:19:16","date_gmt":"2011-08-17T21:19:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stlydias.org\/blog\/?p=898"},"modified":"2011-08-17T17:20:45","modified_gmt":"2011-08-17T21:20:45","slug":"letter-from-emily","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stlydiasliturgy.org\/blog\/2011\/08\/letter-from-emily\/","title":{"rendered":"Letter from Emily: A Church Grows in Brooklyn"},"content":{"rendered":"

For God has not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.<\/em><\/p>\n

-2 Timothy 1:7<\/p>\n

Dear Lydians,<\/p>\n

Here we are in the middle.\u00a0 That beautiful and terrifying place where we are at our most open to all that God is unearthing in us.\u00a0 St. Lydia\u2019s moving to a new place in Brooklyn, a place that we can begin to make home.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been a full week of moving slowly but surely into relationship with the Church of the Redeemer: the people as well as the building.\u00a0 Sunday morning Rachel and I worshipped there, as the rain poured down outside.\u00a0 We sang and prayed and broke bread together.\u00a0 Monday night we met the Bishop\u2019s Committee, and shared a gracious, \u00a0honest, and hopeful conversation about what living together this building will look like.\u00a0 After the meeting, members of the congregation showed us all around, generously offering to move furniture to accommodate us, and showing us all those little tricks — where the light switches are and how to work the stubborn lock on the front door. \u00a0There is a lot of excitement about what’s afoot.<\/p>\n

Tuesday I packed all our boxes into a zipcar and drove them across the water to our new home.\u00a0 After we unloaded, Rachel and I sat on the floor in the middle of the Parish Hall and prayed about all about the fear and the possibility of this time.\u00a0 We asked to be reminded that it\u2019s not us at the helm, but God.\u00a0 When we finished, I could imagine tables filling the Hall, covered in bright fabric and glowing with lit candles.\u00a0 I can see that this place will be our home.<\/p>\n

Tomorrow I\u2019ll pack a few things up into another rented car and head North for ten days of vacation.\u00a0 And Sunday all of you will gather together at our new home in Brooklyn, with Rachel and Daniel to guide you, and give our new home a good scrubbing!<\/p>\n

There is a lot of work to be done as we settle in.\u00a0 I can tell you now that the state of the building will present a struggle for us during our time there. Sunday\u2019s rain demonstrated to Rachel and I the extent of the damage: there were significant leaks in the Parish Hall and in the Pacific Street entryway. \u00a0Next Sunday\u2019s clean-up will do a lot of good, but there\u2019s still painting and unpacking and building of shelving and trips to Ikea that will need to occur, all in conversation with the people of Redeemer. \u00a0It might feel overwhelming at times, but we’ll get there.<\/p>\n

The Episcopal Diocese of Long Island is planning an assessment of the state of the building, to take place in September, at which point we\u2019ll know much more.\u00a0 For now,\u00a0our<\/em><\/strong> job is to settle into our new home, to build a loving and generous relationship with the people of Church of the Redeemer, and begin welcoming our new neighbors to Dinner Church.\u00a0 My <\/em><\/strong>job is to continue to be in conversation with the Diocese about the state of the building and our needs.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s be patient with one another and kind to ourselves as we make this transition.\u00a0 Let\u2019s take things one step at a time.\u00a0 Let\u2019s remember, as we sing so often, that what we need is here.<\/p>\n

Sitting around a table with the people of Redeemer at our meeting Monday night, we all agreed that God is up to something on the corner of Fourth and Pacific.\u00a0 We may be in the wilderness for a little while, but we won\u2019t be there alone.<\/p>\n

Love,<\/p>\n

Emily<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For God has not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. -2 Timothy 1:7 Dear Lydians, Here we are in the middle.\u00a0 That beautiful and terrifying place where we are at our most open to all that God is unearthing in us.\u00a0 St. Lydia\u2019s moving […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stlydiasliturgy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/898"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stlydiasliturgy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stlydiasliturgy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stlydiasliturgy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stlydiasliturgy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=898"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/stlydiasliturgy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/898\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":900,"href":"https:\/\/stlydiasliturgy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/898\/revisions\/900"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stlydiasliturgy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=898"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stlydiasliturgy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=898"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stlydiasliturgy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=898"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}