From the Rector…

I am really grateful to be home from Haiti and to have had the time to be with the people of our sister parish in Holy Innocents, Port-de-Paix and the missions on the Island of La Tortue and in Morne Rosette. The healing was about connection. It was healing to connect with the gifts St. Paul’s has provided that are being used so well, and healing to finally be in the presence of people we are united with in Christ. I was so grateful to meet the people we have held in our prayers for so long.

We need the healing that they give us. We need the perspective of other members of the body of Christ to restore us. Being in relationship with our sister parish that is in such a struggling economy undoes the half-truths we tell ourselves about what truly matters. In the end, our relationships matter; in the end, what we do with what we have matters; in the end, treating all human life as sacred matters. A faith community with strong values of welcoming, worshipping and serving, matters in Haiti and here at home.

God is love. Everything else is just “stuff”.  Sharing and working with the love God has for creation and for all people, even ourselves, helps us sort out what life is about.  Look at your life through the lens of the love God has for us: the honoring of people that Jesus did, the sacrifice of his life, his enjoyment of others, but more than that, his invitation to new life always when he speaks “Peace” to the disciples after his death.  Let what you see be opened up by looking through God’s eyes of love for us, all of us. Let him speak “Peace” to you in love and let it change you. Let him bless you. It will give you enough to live in connection with God who loves us and invites us to a life of love.

This year’s annual meeting to review our work of the past year and take time to look ahead happens on Sunday, February 5^th with one service at 10am.  A combined church school will begin at 9:15am and combined children’s choir rehearsals start at 8:30am. We will share brunch after the meeting at 11:00am which will last just about one hour. Please see the sign up in Sherrill Hall for this time. It will prepare us for the same schedule with the Bishops visit March 11^th.

As I review this past year, there are so many ministry efforts for which I am deeply grateful: our continued support of Holy Innocents school and congregation, our strong children’s formation and youth formation programs, our adult formation offerings, our strong worship experiences which involve the community, the deepening of our music programs, our sponsoring of seminarians, Audrey O’ Brien and Ken Schmidt and next year, Stephen McCarthy and Stephen Trever.

As I look ahead, I am grateful for the excellent work done on our long-range plan. There is much good work to engage us in Christ’s ministry here and beyond our walls. May God bless us in moving forward towards new goals of vital ministry, vital refreshment, shared life in Christ.

We still have much to learn however, and that is our place of prayer, where we ask help from God and each other. Sometimes it feels to me we haven’t yet entirely “hit our stride” always at the 11:10 service and we will be inviting further ways to deepen that experience of worship.

One of the ways to deepen that I saw in our sister parish in Haiti, was the way their congregation could sing for a stretch of 20 minutes at a time with songs they all knew by heart. It was such an outpouring of joy and prayer. Could something like that be possible for us? We are striving to memorize several of St. Paul’s “favorites” for Bishop Shaw’s visit—please see Monique’s article.

But I’m also wondering if we need to keep opening up our musical vocabulary even more. Are there communal songs/hymns that are your favorites that you would like to be part of our worship? Could we develop a St. Paul’s “Top 20”? “Top 50?” hymns and songs we want to belt out at the top of our lungs? I know it’s not very New England-like, but singing with joy gives us even more spiritual strength. We do often sing with much joy, but we could strengthen that joy in our lives even more.  Please go to the website and submit 5-10 communal songs/hymns that are your favorite that you would love us to memorize, even if they are from another tradition, as long as copyrights aren’t too burdensome—or we can work with them, it’s very possible we could incorporate some new favorites. There is a survey link there.

Thank you for the good work you’ve done to “Close the Gap”.  Pray for our sharing responsibility for financial wellness together; and give thanks in all things. Your support makes a huge difference. See the bulletin board in Sherrill Hall to chart our progress. Thank you for your care.

In Christ,

Jon+