Nov. 17, 2020 Hello From Mother Regan
Dear Ones,
Sunday night, I finally arrived in Coronado with my youngest daughter Genevieve (who is going by Eve) to the warmest welcome ever! Beautiful gifts of food, wine, flowers, and the Fergusons’ cozy Casita helped us to decompress from our long drive and to be ready for a day of firsts on Monday. We hit the ground running yesterday, and on the walk home from her first day at Christ Church Day School, Eve gushed “I LOVE school!” All I could do was gush back: “I LOVE church!”
The incredible welcome continued through the day on Monday with a staff meeting that may have made me a little teary (have you ever seen such a crackerjack staff!?), a Service Ministry welcome parade (that definitely made me teary), a tour of the finished rectory by Property Committee chair John Sturges (whose team has really knocked this project out of the park), a CCDS School Board meeting (let me just say that I’d vote Nancy Funk for president any day of the week), and even more food, supplies at the rectory, wine, and love from so many (WOW).
Christ’s joy and your love of God shine through you, and I’m almost at a loss for words to describe how much I love you already and how happy I am to be here to serve God alongside you in this place at this time!
Now I just need the rest of my family to get to town and to get moved in! The moving truck is here and they are unloading as I type—yay! And my oldest daughter, Cecilia, is taking courses online as she and my husband Paul drive across the Southwest today. They should arrive in Coronado Wednesday night in time for Eve’s 10th birthday on Saturday and our first Christ Church service this Sunday.
With the help of many in the Christ Church community (thank you!), I have requested permission from Bishop Susan to start celebrating outdoor, masked, socially distant Eucharist beginning this coming Sunday (11/22). With everyone’s full compliance, I believe we can do this safely. My vision is that the in-person Eucharist will be short and sweet—we will need to limit our time together, which unfortunately includes hanging out and talking before and after the service. But my hope is that we can re-engage and re-imagine some of the rich liturgical pieces in our online worship service. Rather than trying to make the two services “the same,” perhaps we can make each deeply nourishing in different ways this Advent season—indeed, perhaps we all need to attend both services to get the full church experience we are missing so much!
Thank you to the Vestry and Call Committee, who have signed up to feed us all week! And then Paul and Karen Laedlein just came by with a San Diego Zoo pass from the whole parish—what a gift! I am so so grateful for the outpouring of love this week—“thank you” doesn’t seem to be quite adequate to describe my feelings. We feel so welcomed despite the unusual and creative turns our arrival has taken due to the pandemic. Indeed, we all are having to figure out new ways to do almost everything. However, I would really love to spend more time with you and to get to know you; so I thought I would try out a series of Zoom calls. The first is scheduled for this Thursday at noon, and the link is below. If you have a few minutes to hop on to say hello and to pray with us, please do! I so look forward to connecting with you!!
Please know that I am praying for you!
With deep gratitude and overflowing love,
Mtr Regan+
Link to Zoom Meet and Greet Mother Regan
Password - hello