Community News

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Sacred Rocks and Exxon Mobile

The Schar Cancer Center Institute is housed in the former corporate headquarters of Exxon Mobile, and the building very much looks like it was a former corporate headquarters. The grounds, architecture, much of the art and character of the place feels more corporate than medical. This is not meant to be a negative judgment at all. There are unique advantages to this medical complex versus INOVA Fairfax, which is right across the street. INOVA Fairfax is nearly impossible to navigate, while Schar was built all at one time. Though it’s purpose is now different, it is significantly easier to get around, and just feels more intentional than other hospitals that were added to gradually over the course of decades. With that being said, when I first went there it felt a little soulless. For some reason I really hate the fake waterfall that is by the front door. I just don’t like things that are made to look like things they are not, like the oil candles that look like wax candles for the altar. I like the fact that Carol takes such good care of our wax candles. It’s messy, but feels real.

The Future is Never Simple

I have for you a brief tale of two of my pet-peeves with our campus.

For our first segment, let me tell you about the cursed trash-eating squirrels that would routinely terrorize the day school. We once had maybe eight residential style trash cans in the alley and we were part of the county’s routine trash pick-up. The cans had been there for as long as anyone could remember, and squirrels had chewed large holes through them. I hated this, because trash would blow everywhere and it would often smell bad and get over-filled. For our Church members this was a non-issue, because the problem was hidden and few had any dealings with it. For me, not only as the priest but a new Day School parent, this was terrible. I was often the first person to walk down the alley in the morning to drop off my then two-year-old son who was just beginning school. On our cute journey to school, we would routinely spook this family aggressive squirrels getting their breakfast in the trashcans, and they would explode out of the squirrel sized holes, bolt to the fence and thoroughly scare the daylights out of us.

Discretely Funding the Discretionary Fund

We are getting in full swing here at St. Luke’s! This Sunday we will offer the blessing of the animals at both services and after the 10:00 am in the grove for whomever wants to swing by. We also have the children’s choir singing for the first time this ministry year, which is always a great sign of things to come. This is also the last weekend before the pumpkins arrive and we get our pumpkin patch going! With the arrival of decorative gourd season and cooler weather, we embrace the annual ritual of doing things a bit differently.

Weird and Welcoming

I have a lot of personal history at Virginia Theological Seminary, which is just a short drive from St. Luke’s. I graduated from VTS in 2014, got hit by a car immediately after my graduation, and then got married there just a few months later. Seminary was not an easy time for me. I honestly wouldn’t trade it for the world, but you couldn’t pay me enough to go back. Seminary is just an innately weird time in the lives of people preparing for ordained ministry.

Don’t Feed the Trolls

Friends,

Before I get to you about my point, let me info-dump on you about our AV ministry.

When the pandemic was declared, St. Luke’s rose to the occasion to keep people connected to their faith community. This meant outdoor worship with an FM transmitter at 8:00 am on Sundays, and getting high quality streaming for the 10:00 am service. This was made possible by some generous donors, and the skills and hard work of our former associate Rev. Chip Russell. I arrived when this was our regular rhythm, and it was how I initially got to know our congregation.

Meet the Incredible, Versatile Sally Lombardo!

You will begin to see a new face around St. Luke’s!

Sally Lombardo will be with us for this school year as our “seminarian”. If you did not already know, Virginia Theological Seminary is not far away, and it is the largest Anglican Seminary in the world! I thought I would take a moment to describe what Sally is, what she is not, and why I am excited that she is with us.

The Tent is Up.

This is one of my favorite times of the year. I remember as I child the cool air coming in would fill me with adrenaline and excitement, for the upcoming soccer and football games and practices that would begin to dominant my life. The freedom of summer was beginning to drag on too much, and as much as I resisted it, the structure and growth that came with the school year was always a welcome change. This morning when I let the dogs out my lungs were filled with cool air, and it reminded me of those first months back to school as a child, and energy coursed through my spirit. Instead of my preparing for football practices and readjusting to doing homework again, my brain went to all of the wonderful things at St. Luke’s and all of the work that will go into them. The tent has gone up in the grove and it will stay up until at least Halloween, which is a sign that things will be happening here for quite some time, and they all seem to begin with this Sunday, which is when we Kick Off our year!

Tedious, Fraught but Honest

Friends,

One of the things that has surprised me the most in my ministry thus far is how much I have grown to truly appreciate the institution of the Episcopal Church. And I want to be clear, by institution, I mean all of the bureaucracy, paperwork, committee structures, finances, conventions with too many speakers and resolutions, strategic plans, and stewardship campaigns and all of the other stuff that people often do not like about Church. Jesus didn’t talk about these things, and as an overly naive and idealistic seminarian, I thought I could go through ministry without having to sully my spirit with the slippery slope of the sin that is fundraising, trying to increase budgets and building an endowment.

Dumb Luck vs Grace

I had a moment that felt like it was out of some sort of moralistic religious movie on Monday. As I was pulling into the Church parking lot around 1:00 pm with my carry out lunch in hand, I was met by a very frail elderly African American man pushing a walker. He explained to me that he is homeless, a cancer patient and was in need of help. This was the perfect setting for me to receive some sort of perspective shifting lesson that both renewed my faith in God and humanity, while renewing my call to serve those in most need. All of those things are good, and honestly, it was certainly where I thought the afternoon was heading when I met my new friend, but the interaction showed something messier, more human, but no less faith filled.

VBS at St. Luke’s

A few months ago, we were pulling out all sorts of neat things from the cabinets in the library. Cabinets, nooks, and other discrete storage places in Churches often become repositories for meaningful things that don’t otherwise have a home. Idle cabinets in Church must be fiercely protected and managed, because eventually someone will come across something special that is at least tangentially related to our Church at home or from somewhere else on our campus, and they won’t have a place to put it. Not wanting to throw it away, these well-meaning people stuff these treasurers into underutilized spaces with the hopes they will one day find someone that can see their value.

Grief is Weird

You have probably met at least one of my dogs. Vanilla Bean is the oldest, and probably the most visible. She is incredible with children, and if I am going to take a dog to Church on Sunday, it is going to be her. Peanut is a different sort of pup, and prefers the company of residents at Paul Springs or similar places. She is not great at walking, but does it enthusiastically and loves to lean against anyone that will love on her. Garbanzo was our surprise dog. In September of 2018 our dear friend found her abandoned on the Smith River, and called me to help retrieve her on my paddle board. When we arrived, we found her sitting on the lap of our friend going down the river like it was the most natural thing to do.

I’m not telling you the name of the lake

It has been a very long time since I have taken a planned Sunday off. Now, there have been a couple of Sundays I was not at St. Luke’s, but I was still preaching, like at our vestry and parish retreats at Shrine Mont. This also does not mean that I haven’t taken vacations. I was just on vacation a couple of weeks ago, but worked things out so I didn’t have to miss a Sunday. I am not saying this to sounds like a poor, suffering, and over-worked priest. On the contrary, this week I keep finding my mind wandering to the lectionary to see what the lessons are for this Sunday and next, and then I realize that I won’t be preaching the next TWO Sundays!!! Your former associate priest, Rev. Grace Pratt will be filling in for me both Sundays at all three services, and honestly, I am jealous because she has a great narrative arch in the Gospels about Jesus constantly trying to take a break, but people keep pestering him, so he performs miracles. If you are Jesus, then it is truly hard to take a break, but like most everyone else, I just sometimes convince myself I am that important. This Saturday, my entire family will be flying to Northwest Georgia to go to my favorite place in the world, which is a little-known lake in the middle of the nowhere and surrounded by mountains, and I am currently thinking of little else.

Saying Goodbye at Hello

Summer is a weird time, especially for kids. When I was young the rhythm of school always felt so permanent. I knew who I sat next to during school, what friend I got to eat lunch with, and who my crew was during recess. Summer felt like I was drinking fun and freedom from a fire hose, and then school would start back up again, but it always felt so foreign in the beginning. You had to get used to a new teacher, classroom with a different desk layout, and new classmates that you would bond with, or sometimes learn to avoid. One of the things that bothered me is when people seemed to disappear. It’s a thing that families like - to move in the summer so they avoid disrupting a school year. This makes perfect sense, but it was disorienting from my perspective because some of my more casual friends would just sort of not be there from the previous year. I wasn’t close enough to be invited to the going away party, but I was close enough to miss their presence.

St. Luke’s is Powered by the Son and the Sun

Friends,

I am very pleased to announce that soon you will see new solar panels on the roof of St. Luke’s! This is probably a surprise for most. I find the story about how this came about to be quite compelling. I imagine you might have quite a few questions about this, and I thought I would try to address a few of them.

Nick's Technology Assisted Message

In robes of white, amidst the sunlit sands,

Where waves caress and whispers meet the land,

A priest sits, pen in hand, his heart aglow,

To write of faith where gentle waters flow.

Using ChatGPT, his guide in verse and prose,

From AI's wisdom, inspiration flows,

Each algorithmic whisper, like a prayer,

Crafting messages of love and care.

Beneath the azure sky, his thoughts take flight,

In tandem with the AI's guiding light,

He crafts his words with knowledge vast and deep,

From pixels born, his flock's devotion keep.

For though he's far from his beloved church,

His soul connects through AI's helpful search,

Each line composed, a blend of human grace,

And technology's embrace in sacred space.

With seagulls' cries as chorus to his verse,

He pens the teachings that will disperse,

Across the digital expanse, their reach,

A priestly mission aided by AI's speech.

From sunlit shore, his sermon finds its way,

With ChatGPT's assistance day by day,

His congregation touched by wisdom's gleam,

From the beach, where faith and pixels stream.

In every line, the ocean's endless song,

Echoes of belief both firm and strong,

A priest, AI, and beachside reverie,

Uniting hearts in faith and harmony.

Authentically written messages from Father Nick will resume next week :)

Strategically Planning for Faith

Paul Johnson was the head of St. Luke’s search committee when I was called to be your priest, and he said something to me after I was officially called that has always stuck with me. He said, “Your strengths are our weakness, and our strengths are your weakness.” With the point being, that we would complement each other well. I don’t remember telling the committee that organization, following protocols, and all that stuff wasn’t my strong suit, but apparently, they picked up on it fairly quickly!

Well done good and faithful Carol

We should all be beyond thankful for Carol Bloom’s ministry to St. Luke’s over the course of the last couple decades (27 years I think). Her ministry, with just a couple of minor interruptions, has been a consistent and faithful presence at St. Luke’s. For more than a quarter of the history of our parish, Carol has been in the sacristy, getting the chalices, patens, wine, bread, water vessels, fine linens, candles, flowers, vases, and hangings ready for worship. We are a liturgical Church, and part of our identity is the centrality of the sacraments. The sermons are short, because we believe it is just the opening act. People gather not to listen to me, but to break bread together in the belief that Christ dwells with us in that moment. Because of this emphasis on the sacraments, the role of the altar guild is quite important. We could celebrate the Holy Eucharist on a plain table, but we are compelled to make it beautiful so it reflects the miraculous grace surging from it during worship, and the members of the altar guild are the stewards of this beauty.

To Our Graduating Seniors: Don’t Mess Up

It is that time of year again when we recognize our graduating seniors. We pray and give thanks for all of those who are graduating from high school, college or graduate school, and for those who may or may not be directly part of our community. Personally, I am intensely proud of my cousin Joe who graduated from Law School. The world is a better place with him in it, regardless of what his politics may be (Joe, I’m kidding…mostly). I am also in awe of Edward Wallingford who is enlisting into the Marine Corps. Edward may not be a member of St. Luke’s, but he is part of our family, and I am thankful for his courage and character, and he will especially be in my prayers. Other seniors, such as Blake Brantley, have led Eagle Scout projects through our Church, helped run the pumpkin patch and taken part in our youth programs. The fabric of our Church is shifting after this cycle of graduations, and we should pay attention.

Friends,

I love being excited for other people. Meeting a new person who is deep into something I know little about and hearing about it through their perspective fills me with joy. In our congregation it is easy to get excited about what people do, because we have a lot of interesting people. The amount of “space people” in our congregation is staggering, and I cannot help but feel awe when they talk about missions to Saturn’s moons and whatnot. This enthusiasm is not limited to people with dramatic careers. I still do not fully understand what Paul Johnson does for a living, and I doubt I ever will, but I know enough to know that it is everything to do with things I am terrible at, like spreadsheets, budgets and financial trends. If someone told me what Paul does, I would be desperately bored, but when Paul talks about it, it is as if some veil is being lifted and all of a sudden, I get why people like Paul do what they do, and my world gets a little bit bigger.

Jeez-its

There a million big and little things I would like to try while I am with you, and sometimes, my mental to-do list is overwhelming. Focusing on my priorities rather than following every little idea and thread I come upon has been a big learning in my ministry these past ten years. One thing that I feel strongly about, but remains fairly low on my priority list is communion wafers.