Starting at sunset--7:41 p.m.--on Thursday, April 28, the diocesan Young Adult Advisory Committee and the Episcopal Chaplaincy at Harvard are teaming up to co-host a spring revival in the chaplaincy’s backyard at 2 Garden Street in Cambridge, promising an Appalachian string band, The Onlies, performing a bluegrass-gospel repertoire; smoked meats and homemade pies; and the chance to meet new people.
“We’re looking to create spaces where young Episcopalians can find one another and build relationships and lessen both the isolation of the pandemic and also the isolation, sometimes, of being one of only a few people in our age group in many of our parishes,” the Rev. Isaac Martinez, a member of the Young Adult Advisory Committee, said in a Zoom interview.
Martinez said that though “revival” might sound like an old-fashioned word that brings to mind a big church service with headline preachers and more-than-your-usual-Sunday-morning music—this is not that.
“I see this as embracing the springing to new life that a revival calls for. It’s not a concert, it’s not a show, it’s not a performance, the emphasis is really on coming together, reconnecting with old friends and meeting new ones,” he said.
“The pandemic, as it did for many, has had its particular heartaches and hard things, and for folks in our 20s and 30s, it was a real time of disconnection socially, especially to be sent away from campuses where we had been studying, or moving back in with parents, sometimes, not in the most ideal situations, and in a time in life when we’re really trying to figure out: Who are we? What are we called to be? And the most poignant part of that: Who am I in community? That’s what I really see being revived here, a sense of social connection.”
And how does he see Jesus showing up?
“Jesus will be there in the music, and, as we recollect on Easter, Jesus shows up in the gathered body of believers . So I think, as we’re celebrating and entering Easter, entering the season of resurrection, of revival, I think Jesus will very much be there.”
Rain or no rain.
“We’ll be outside under a tent, it will be safe, everything is free—food, drinks, connections, it’s going to be a really great time,” Martinez said.
--Tracy J. Sukraw
Experiencing your 20s or 30s and have an idea for connecting with others in Christian community? “The Young Adult Advisory Committee continues to look for opportunities to support what young Episcopalians want to do so if you have a dream, be in touch with our co-chairs, and we’ll do our best to make it happen,” the Rev. Isaac Martinez said. Visit www.diomass.org/young-adult-ministries to get connected.