Church of Incarnation holds first service in newly renovated sanctuary
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Photo by Christopher Lugo/Staff For the past two years, the Church of Incarnation has undergone a complete renovation of its sanctuary. On Sunday, parishioners had their first service in the new sanctuary.
It was a historic Palm Sunday for the Church of Incarnation as parishioners flooded the new sanctuary.
Since Nov. 2020, through a pandemic sweeping the nation and putting construction on hold numerous times, Rev. Kellan Day said in her homily Sunday that the church has gone through several journeys to get to that moment.
“We have walked through months of isolation and tried our very best to pray through live-streamed Eucharist,” Day said. “We processed slowly, but deliberately through a building project. We journeyed we end and week out to our beloved chapel to offer our thanks to God and to lift up our prayers for peace. We received holy manna for our trek through the wilderness. I, for one, would not be standing here without those weekly journeys to our chapel. Some of us have made our ways to hospitals to welcome newborn bundles and some of us have walked to the grave to lay our dear ones to rest in Christ. Some have pilgrimed to cities for treatments or surgeries. Others have traveled with friends and family as they wrestled with addiction and mental illness. Perhaps you have journeyed far away from this place for a time, unsure of what the role the church or God has in your life, jaded and wandering. We had journeyed long and hard, a pilgrimage that we did not ask for, but a pilgrimage that was graced by God’s presence even if we are only beginning to see glimmers of that grace now in retrospect.”
Day said now, the journeys have converged.
“Once again, together as one body with many parts and more importantly, they converge and coincide with Jesus’ own journey and his own body,” Day said. “His journey, His life, His story is where we can find meaning and hope for our own journeys and stories. His life is our map. The place we go to when we are lost, aimlessly wandering or trying to get somewhere with purpose. He is our compass for our straining hearts. Jesus himself, is where our wondering, histories, questions and exhaustion can find rest, nourishment, meaning and healing. So, on this Palm Sunday and throughout the entirety of Holy Week, we are invited into Jesus’ journey, his final days on this Earth. Each of you are invited to make this ancient pilgrimage. A road walked by his earliest disciples and his disciples since.”
By becoming one through the grace of God, Day said our own journeys pause.
“Time is suspended. We don’t have to muster up any more energy to trek anther mile,” Day said.” We don’t have to wander aimlessly anymore; we don’t have to journey onward alone. Every single Eucharist, be rest in the blessed assurance that we have come home. Home in God. Home in the heart of love, that hasn’t stopped and won’t stop and can’t stop beating for you and for this creation. So, welcome home, dear ones. The doors are always open. The table will soon be set. Heaven has come to Earth and God’s heart is beckoning yours.”
Rev. Bentley Manning said there are a lot of people that need to be thanked for the completion of the remodeling.
“Let me start now by thanking all of you,” Manning said. “Each and every one of you, for working together on this shared vision. For this parish family, in particular, a word of gratitude for your generous financial support and commitment to this project, your trust and forbearance as we went about the work. A special word of gratitude for the people that served on the capital campaign committee, our master of plan design committee, our building committee and the vestry classes that have served over the course of this project. I also need to say thank you to all of our staff. On a personal note, I need to say thank you to my family. I think we owe them a round of applause.”
Though there are some things that are not fully complete yet, Manning said they have a very close eye on all of it.
“We will be working diligently over the months ahead to wrap this project up as soon as possible,” Manning said. “Nevertheless, our space already feels like a home.”
The Maundy Thursday service is scheduled for April 14, at 5:30 p.m. The Good Friday service is scheduled for April 15, at noon. The Great Vigil of Easter is scheduled for April 16, at 8 p.m. and the Feast of the Resurrection service is scheduled for April 17, at 11:15 a.m.
- By Christopher Lugo
