I like to think of ministry in terms of gardening. In fact, God’s reign is notably likened to a vineyard or garden in the biblical witness, where ministry involves tending that garden – planting, pruning, weeding, watering, fertilizing, waiting, watching, harvesting. There are, of course, seasons to the work we undertake. In terms of nature’s rhythms, I’ve arrived on the scene here in Arlington in springtime – people are busy buying plants at Ayers Variety and Hardware for their plots at home. The vegetable garden in the yard at the church is getting good attention, and the plants are growing, albeit challenged by the appetite of local rabbits…. Summer is on its way, along with harvest in the autumn, and then the dormancy of wintertime.

Seasons of our life together in the church, where we care for God’s ecclesial garden, do not necessarily parallel the chronology of nature’s seasons. Which is to say, given the pandemic and restrictions on activity, there is a sense in which we remain in the comparatively dormant or fallow times of winter in our life together as a congregation right now. In last week’s reflection, I listed the ways in which our congregation continues to be active, carrying out the basics of Christian communal life. But it is also true that the pace of ministry has slowed considerably since we have been sheltering in place, not unlike the slower pace of nature during winter.

Those who know the workings of the natural world will tell you that dormant or fallow periods are enormously helpful, even essential, and are part and parcel of the natural cycles that make for blossoming and for a bountiful harvest. Dormancy is not the total absence of activity. There is a different quality to the energies and rhythms of dormancy. This less activist season of our life together helps us focus on careful preparation of the soil, on planning what to plant and where and when, toward nurturing a vision of what the harvest might look like in due season. Lots is going on in the soil when seeds prepare to germinate, even if sprouts of life are not yet visible to us. Moreover, lots is going on in the mind and imaginations of gardeners as they make their plans during the dormant, fallow time.

So it is at Resurrection Church, we are beckoned to make the most of this less active time of sheltering in place. You can be sure that my holy daydreaming extends beyond the parsonage and its yard. I also like to wander through the church and its many rooms and hallways, imagining the activities that will one day return to those spaces. But I also imagine new things that might happen in our church. Likewise, I love to walk through the neighborhoods to get my exercise. While I do so, I engage in holy daydreaming about what our congregation may become in renewed and news ways for the sake of our witness in our wider community.

I invite you to join me in these holy imaginings during this period of comparative dormancy. Moreover, I invite you to share with me, in ways appropriate to our current circumstances, your own vision for the plot of God’s garden known as Resurrection Evangelical Lutheran Church in Arlington, Virginia.

Our holy daydreams, the visions we cast now, are crucial to what our life together will be in the future, near or far. This discerning work is part and parcel of what it means to tend the garden entrusted to us by our gracious God, the source of all life and blessing. Then we can look for the sprouts in the coming weeks and months and years. Like gardening, we do not know what kind of growing seasons we are in for, given what is happening to our nation and to our world. But we trust that God will in due season give the growth.

May God in Christ make fruitful this our more fallow season in the power of the Spirit for the sake of the blossoming and harvest to come.

With such prayer in Jesus’ name,

Pastor Jonathan Linman

Announcements:

Contacting Pastor Linman:

Now that I am in residence in Arlington, and in the same time zone with you, I am beginning to incorporate into my routines contact with our members, mainly via phone and email given the need for continued physical distancing. But please do not hesitate to contact me first should you have need and desire. In fact, I would welcome and cherish as your pastor also hearing from you. A good way to start would be to send me an email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. I monitor and respond to my emails quite regularly. An email exchange may result in our plans to converse by phone, or FaceTime or Zoom, or other creative avenues. You may also wish to phone me at first. The direct line to the pastor’s office at the church (the messages on which I also now monitor regularly) is: 703-972-2076. There is also a new landline at the parsonage: 703-237-4157 (but kindly please first leave messages at the pastor’s office phone number).

Financial Update:

May Financial Update. The below chart is a summary of RELC’s finances for the year to date as of April 30, 2020. The columns titled “(a) YTD Giving,” “(b) YTD Expenses” and “(c) Giving minus Expenses” provide key data for our three primary financial funds. This shows that our giving is slightly above our actual expenses for the YTD but well below our giving levels for this time last year. We are beginning to see the impact of the cancellation of Sunday services on our giving. Please continue to send in your weekly contributions which can be made through Simply Giving (May is “Simply Giving Month”!), by using the “Donate Now” button on RELC’s website or by sending your contribution check to the church office in the US Mail. Please prayerfully consider what this information means to you as we work together to support RELC’s ministries.

AFAC Food Collection:
When: Sunday May 31, from 10:00am – Noon
Where: Washington Blvd. Entrance

RELC will continue collecting food donations for AFAC every two weeks. Our next collection will be this coming Sunday, May 31, from 10 am until noon at the Washington Blvd entrance. Due to the pandemic, the need for food is increasing daily. AFAC needs canned vegetables , cereal (low sugar), canned tuna, canned tomato products (stewed, diced, paste), and peanut butter (in plastic jars). Members of the Social Ministry Committee will be there to assist you with your donation. Monetary contributions, which enable AFAC to purchase more perishable items are accepted and welcomed. All donations will be delivered to AFAC Monday morning.

Any questions? Contact Edd Nolen , This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 703-533-2953.

Children’s Ministry

Upcoming: For our Elementary aged friends, join Ms. Angie for ZOOM TIME! Upcoming themes: Show and Share; Ice Cream Social; Indoor Scavenger Hunt, Bingo... Look in your inbox for further details.

For our Parents: join me and friends for a Wine and Whine event. Look in your inbox for further details.

If you are interested in the above and have not already expressed interest, please email me at: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Youth Ministry

Pastor Linman and Youth Director, Amanda Lindamood invite all middle, high school and post high school youth to gather over Zoom on Sunday, June 7th at 3 pm. This will be an informal social time to mark the coming of summer and the end of the school year, and to uplift all of those who have graduated in 2020. Send an RSVP email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and receive login information.

Click here for the current Resurrection Home Faith Formation Calendar:

Arlington Community Foundation Webinar Series: Poverty in a Pandemic Crisis

RELC Family - Some of you may be interested in the following Arlington Community Foundation Webinars on the challenges facing Arlington's lowest income residences in the time of COVID. I am a foundation board member. I hope you can find some time to watch one if not all of these zooms.

Please stay vigilant, safe and sane.

Jeanne Broyhill

(Please click here to be forwarded to the webinar registration page.)

Pentecost Sunday with Bishop Ortiz

Join Bishop Ortiz, the Metro D.C. Synod staff and worship team THIS SUNDAY, May 31 at 4:00 PM as we celebrate Pentecost Sunday together with a 35-40 minute online worship service. All congregations are welcome to participate in this additional worship opportunity on the Synod's Facebook and YouTube pages.

Engage and expect the Holy Spirit to fill the space in which you worship through uplifting music, readings in multiple languages, and a short message from Bishop Ortiz. Come Holy Spirit, come!

(Please click here to RSVP and find more information through the link below)

Other Announcements?

Should you have announcements that you wish to communicate in this weekly message as committee chairs or those responsible for other ministry initiatives at Resurrection, please contact Monika at the office (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) by late Monday mornings for inclusion in the message for the coming Wednesday. Thanks!