-the little white church on the corner-
April 2026
THE CLERGY CORNER
Dear People of Epiphany,
This week we make the turn into Holy Week. When we began our wilderness wandering five weeks ago, it was cold. At the beginning of this winter stretch, we had to cancel two weeks of church because of inclement weather forecasts! And now, the forsythia has made its brilliant display announcing the turn towards Spring. For us Christians, we are looking towards Easter.
I am struck as I make the approach to Holy Week by how much we are all on a Via Dolorosa (Way of Suffering) of sorts. Our country is at war. Our troops, deployed into conflict, are husbands, wives, siblings, and children who leave a worried wake of loved ones. Gas prices have climbed which means already high food prices will likely follow with more increases. Those with the least will suffer the most. We’re all connected to one another. Where is the hope?
One of the many gifts of holy week is it helps us tell the truth about the hard things. Suffering is a very real part of the human journey. Jesus’ life, witnesses to us, ” I am all in for this human experience that you are in. The suffering part is real for you, and I am in for that too. I come to walk with you. To show you how to live and how to love. When the scary parts come, I show you the way. I am here with you now. And I am waiting for you at your life’s end. Nothing can separate you from me or my love–not hard times, not even death.”
It is not lost on me on how vital our faith message of hope is. We started Lent by offering Ash Wednesday ashes and blessings to grateful construction crew and civil servants working in our neighborhood. I want us to continue to look for ways to be a presence of hope and blessing to our hurting world on this little corner of Lafayette Winona– and in all the little corners we disperse to when we are not at church together. We need to be the face of Easter hope in our hurting world. Hard times can make us insulate. We need to resist this as temptation and double-down on loving our neighbors.
I look forward to journeying with you this week for our first Holy Week together. As we continue on our year of firsts, you may be having moments of grief–feeling Richard’s absence. I am always available to give a hug and do not take any of these feelings as a slight to me. I miss him too. I take comfort from knowing he is with the Heavenly Host–especially near at Holy Eucharist, watching and cheering.
Faithfully and with deep affection,
Anne+
” The resurrection gives my life meaning and direction and the opportunity to start over no matter what my circumstances.” ” Easter is the demonstration of God that life is essentially spiritual and timeless. Our joy that hath no end.” Jesuit Quotes.
A Wardens Reflection
A reflection on Luke 21. With Jesus prophesying the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple -that was fulfilled in 70 AD and his ultimate return, we were also warned of persecutions, false messiahs, and global distress, and his urging the disciples to remain watchful, patient and faithful rather than setting dates for the end.
Do you ever notice- Jesus doesn’t warn us about people outside of faith, He warns us about the people who use the faith to control others. At the end of the day, it wasn’t the outsiders who wanted Jesus dead, it was the insiders, the believers who couldn’t handle him– who wanted him dead.
Jesus says in Luke 21, many will come in my name saying I am He and the time is near. Don’t follow after them.
Back then people weren’t just waiting for spiritual salvation they were waiting for political salvation, someone to fix everything, someone to bring back the good old days, someone to make everything great again. So anytime a charismatic loudmouth showed up saying, follow me and I’ll fix everything. Well people would fall for it because fear makes certainty, not truth and here’s the wild part, these figures didn’t show up looking evil, they came wrapped in religion, wrapped in patriotism, wrapped in “family values”, wrapped in God talk, wrapped in ” I alone can fix it, wrapped in nobody has better ideas than me, nobody.
They made followers feel special, seen, chosen, better than those outsiders and slowly the devotion went from God to that false leader. Jesus never told us to worship power, Jesus never told us to win at all costs, Jesus never told us to demonize our enemies. He instead said, ” beware of the ones who claim to be the only truth, the only hope, the only voice you should trust and who would demand loyalty in return. If someone is saying everyone else is lying to you except me–that’s not a savior.
If someone says, ” I alone can fix everything”, they’re not leading you, they’re going to use you. If someone asks for your devotion- instead of pointing you to God- you’re not following Jesus anymore- you’re simply following a person using religion to build a fan base, a fan club.
Jesus didn’t manipulate people with fear. Jesus didn’t need a nation to feel powerful. Jesus didn’t demand blind loyalty. So, if you want to know whether a leader is worth following, watch what happens when they lose power. Do they get louder, angrier and desperate to control or do they get quieter, humbler and more Christ like. If someone says, “They alone can save you” they’re not your savior- because Jesus said” we’ll know the truth by their fruit” not by what they say, not by the fireworks surrounding them.
Following Jesus is discipleship, not fandom and we should know the difference.
Return to Jesus for He is the truth, the way and the life. The beginning of the end… Jesus was talking to His Jewish audience before the cross…warning them of when the Romans would wipe them out in 70 AD.
Thank you for your inspiration, my brother in Christ, Father Joe.
Regards. Jim Fisher- Sr. Warden
Happening Around Ephiphany
- Palm Sunday- Sunday March 29. Commemorates Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem.
- Holy Monday- March 30. Commemorates Jesus driving out people selling livestock and changing money in the temple, declaring it a “house of prayer.”
- Holy Tuesday-March 31. Commemorates Jesus’ final teachings in Jerusalem.
- Holy Wednesday-April 1. Sometimes referred to as “Spy Wednesday,” Holy Wednesday commemorates Judas’s conspiracy with the local authorities to betray Jesus.
- Holy Thursday, Lent ends.- Sometimes referred to as ” Maundy Thursday,” Holy Thursday commemorates the Last Supper, when Jesus shared his last meal with his disciples before his arrest, and establishes the sacrament of communion. ( 6 pm Holy Eucharist w/ Feet Washing- Potluck Agape Meal after service-Stripping of the Altar follows the meal.)
- Good Friday- April 3. Commemorates the crucifixion of Jesus. (Noon- Contemplative, self-guided Stations-of -the-Cross. 6 pm- Holy Eucharist with Reserved Sacrament and Solemn Collects.)
- Holy Saturday-April 4. Commemorates Jesus’s burial. (Noon– Short Liturgy of Prayer at the Empty Tomb)
- Easter Sunday- April 5.- Commemorates Jesus’s resurrection as described in Matthew 28, Mark 16, Luke 24 and John 20 in the New Testament of the Bible. (10 a.m. Festival Eucharist with Pot Luck Reception & an Adult Easter Egg Hunt after the service)
Monthly Volunteer Schedule
- April 5th
- The Rev. Anne Zobel
- Organist: Joe Ritchie
- Flowers: Jim Fisher
- Altar: Kevin LaPointe
- Lector: Gayle Greene
- Usher: Kathy Moore
- April 12th
- The Rev. Anne Zobel
- Organist: Scott Foxwell
- Flower Guild
- Altar: Kevin LaPointe
- Usher: Susie Pedigo
- April 19th
- The Rev. Anne Zobel
- Organist:Pat Spoettle
- Flowers:Joyce Williams
- Altar: Ariel Fernandez
- Lector: Brian Pritchard
- Usher: Jackie Rochelle
- April 26th
- The Rev. Anne Zobel
- Organist: Pat Spoettle
- Flowers: Jim Fisher
- Altar: Kevin LaPointe
- Lector: John Childers
- Usher: Tom Gilleland