Dear friends,

I’m sitting here in my kitchen, halfway through my doctor-imposed isolation after having tested positive for Covid-19 last week. I seem to be over the symptoms themselves, so now I just need to finish the extra five days.

There’s a lot of important information coming in this eblast. But – I’m struggling not to be completely self-absorbed while in exile. Fortunately, it’s the season after the Epiphany, when God reveals themself to us through the Christ. I find the cure for my selfishness to be Evening Prayer, which includes both the Song of Mary, with its radical reordering of the human economic/political sphere, and the Song of Simeon.

As a musician, I’m drawn to the multitude of great settings of Simeon’s canticle from the Gospel according to St. Luke, mostly using the old translation from the 1549 Prayer Book:

Lord, now lettest thou thy servant
depart in peace,
according to thy word;
for mine eyes have see thy salvation,
which thou hast prepared before the face of all people,
To be a light to lighten the Gentiles,
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:
to be the glory of thy people Israel,
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen.

That passage about “all people,” “light,” and “glory” happens to be my favorite in the entire bible. Can you find a more concise distillation of the mystery of the Incarnation—my favorite theological concept—anywhere else?

I can’t wait to rejoin you and send that light out into the world through our song, our prayer, and our service.

I love you all,

Brian