From the Chaplain to Emory University

A Message from Nancy Baxter

• The Emory Campus Ministry

A Holy Lent - By Invitation Only

“I invite you, therefore, in the name of the Church, to the observance of a holy Lent……”

These words from the Ash Wednesday liturgy remind us all that the prayer,

self-examination, fasting, self-denial, meditation, reading, and other practices of Lent leading us into repentance and readiness for the Easter celebration are by

invitation only. We didn’t come up with this idea of Lent or with the various

activities associated with this season. The invitation comes out of a long tradition in the Church and from a community stretching back to the very earliest days of

Christian history. When we participate in these time, tested practices, we know that our minds and hearts and bodies will undergo change. By the action of the Holy Spirit working among us in this community of faith, we will experience what

Christians over the centuries have experienced: the mixing and leavening and kneading and rising and baking of the bread of our life together. Lent is not just an individual experience, although the work of individuals in Lent is crucial. We are invited in the name of the Church to be the Church at ever deepening levels so that our community will be ready at Easter to be claimed yet again by the redeeming mystery of our Lord’s life, death, and resurrection.

For me, this experience of ashes, of looking at sin and mortality, of calling to mind and heart things done and things left undone, is already particularly powerful

because only a couple of weeks ago, I buried the ashes of my mother. The funeral liturgy we had for her (and which the community will have for you and me one day) says “You are dust and to dust you shall return.” Those are not new words for us. We hear them every year. My prayer is that you will hear and respond to the invitation to dig deeply into the dust of your life in this season of Lent, 2008. It is work you do for yourself, but it is also work you do with and for the community who invited you. May the companionship of the saints uphold you.

I encourage you to exercise the disciplines of your holy Lent!

The Reverend Nancy Baxter, SSAP

From the Chaplain to Emory University (to the Annual Meeting, November 23, 2003)
The Emory campus ministry, which is funded primarily by the diocesan budget, is also a mission of St. Bartholomew’s. Not only does the parish financially support the programs of the campus ministry, but also St. Bartholomew’s is a welcoming parish home for students, faculty, and staff of the university. The Emory Episcopal Chaplain, the Rev. Nancy Baxter, is active in Sunday morning and evening liturgies at St. Bartholomew’s, preaching and celebrating the Eucharist on a regular basis. On weekday mornings at 8:30, a service of Morning Prayer is held at the Emory Episcopal Center, which is attended, by St. Bartholomew’s parishioners who study and work at Emory. Tuesday afternoons the campus ministry goes to Wesley Woods where the Holy Eucharist is celebrated at the Rhodes Nursing Home at 3:30 and at Budd Terrace at 4:30. Parishioners Christina Dondero, Ken Dutter, and Eleanor Pritchett have helped with these services in the past year. David Overby recently began serving as the pianist. On Wednesday mornings, Christina Dondero has developed a ministry with the spouses of international students at Emory, gathering them and their young children for fellowship and support at the Emory Episcopal Center. This group has grown over the past year and seen the birth of several new babies! Christina also has been involved with the diocesan program for discernment of vocations to the priesthood. This program utilizes the Episcopal services at Wesley Woods as a setting for aspirants to exercise ministry. College students in discernment participate in DYVE, (Discerning Young Vocations Experience), which meets every month during the school year over a weekend at the Anglican House of Studies. In the spring, Stephen Shaver from St. Bartholomew’s completed DYVE and was recommended for postulancy. This fall, two students from Emory and St. Bartholomew’s are participating in DYVE. During the school term 2002-2003, the Anglican Studies seminar met at St. Bartholomew’s on Wednesday afternoon. The seminarians and their supervisors, the Rev. Dr. Ted Hackett and the Rev. Nancy Baxter, provided a service of Evensong and Holy Eucharist for the parish. This fall, the seminarians have moved back to campus in order to offer Evensong and Holy Eucharist in Cannon Chapel. Organist/Choirmaster Brad Hughley generously offered instruction to the seminarians in the practice of chanting. Emory students and recent graduates of Emory are active in all aspects of parish life.

The connections between the campus ministry and the parish enrich and under gird the ministry of Christ in both. In 2003, the chaplain celebrated her twentieth year as an associate priest at St. Bartholomew’s.

Blessings,
The Rev. Nancy Baxter