On Sunday, May 13, our Sunday morning schedule will be the same as always. However, we will have final Services of Praise and Thanksgiving at 5 pm in the Historic Church and at 7:30 pm in the Main Sanctuary. That is also Mothers Day-perhaps this year our focus can be on the continuation of The Falls Church as a Mother Church expecting!
As of Tuesday, May 15, all of our offices and meeting places will be relocated.
In the future our primary location for Sunday morning 9 and 11 am Worship Services will be Bishop O'Connell High School. When that is not available we will meet at Kenmore Middle School. The 8 am Worship Service will be in the Chapel at Columbia Baptist Church.
The upcoming worship schedule*:
May 20 & 29
9 & 11 am Kenmore Middle School
8 am Columbia Baptist Chapel
June all Sundays
9 & 11 am Bishop O'Connell High School
8 am Columbia Baptist Chapel
* Normally these will be our regular Service times; however, there may be slight variations from time to time.
Shortly we'll publish a full summer calendar with maps directions and other necessary information. One of a kind Services such as weddings and funerals will be scheduled through Rick Wright's office by contacting Jill Casey (jcasey@tfcanglcan.org). The Episcopal Vestry must approve any services held on this property after May 15.
We will do our very best to communicate with you about all upcoming gatherings which would have been held here on this campus. A comprehensive calendar is easily accessible and in a prominent place on our website homepage at www.tfcanglican.org.
Our Vestry has spent all this morning together. We have maintained all our rights to appeal Judge Bellow's ruling and are now deciding the most strategic ways to appeal. The appeal must be submitted to the Virginia Supreme Court no later than May 30.
We are required by the judge's Final Order to pay approximately $2.8 million to the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia on April 30. We will pay these funds to the court to be held by it until all appeals are resolved. (If we prevail on appeal these funds will be returned to us.) This will deplete most of our financial reserves.
I praise God that your giving has been generous this year-Thank You! Still, we are all going to have to reexamine our giving now, because we only have about a two week cushion for expenses. Thankfully, all funds contributed now to the church are available for us to spend unencumbered-they are not at risk.
You can imagine that as we contemplate the cost of relocation, there are many complex questions. It is a time for reevaluation and recommitment. It is a time for belt tightening and generosity. It is a time for thanksgiving and supplication. We are about to enter into a time in which we will be learning much from God. And I am personally grateful for the clarity we now have about the future.
Yes, it will be sad to leave our home. But we can be confident that God will be with us and will lead us. Frankly, I am quite excited about our future, because I believe we are going to experience God's blessing, provision, and leadership in ways we never have before.
