April 9, 2021

Beloved in Christ,
It was an absolute joy to celebrate Holy Week and Easter in-person at St. Peter’s last week. Granted, there were concessions we had to make to keep each other safe, but we were able to join in prayer and worship, re-membering our Lord’s passion, death and resurrection together. Sharing that time and space with you – some of whom I have not seen in person for over a year! – illuminated for me the importance of our incarnate nature. Being in person makes a difference! God knew this and became incarnate in Jesus Christ and experienced all our mortal life involves, including death.

Now we celebrate the 50 days of Easter as we live into the reality of Jesus’ victory over death. This feels very poignant as we, in New Jersey, are dealing with both a surge of new COVID-19 infections and more than a third of the population with at least one shot of vaccine. It is important that we acknowledge that both of these facts are true. We must remain diligent in our efforts and continue to do our part to overcome this virus.

We will continue to require facemasks to be worn at all times while at St. Peter’s, even outside. We will continue to maintain 6 feet of physical distance between those not in our immunologic bubble. Even if you are fully vaccinated (2 weeks after the 2nd shot, for the majority of people), we need to maintain these safety measures. We must always be ready to welcome a guest or stranger and we will not treat them differently from our members.

I thank you for your perseverance and pray we all continue to keep each other safe as we pray and worship together. This is how we love one another.

With Easter Joy,
Rev. Valerie+

The Rev. Canon Valerie L. Balling
Priest-in-Charge