A Future With Hope
Thank you for the warm and kind welcome you
have extended to me upon my arrival to All Saints’. Your hospitality has
been grace filled. While these past two weeks have been packed with a
variety of tasks, meetings, and visits, the office staff has done a
remarkable job of getting me oriented and keeping me on task—thank you
Tommie, Nancy, Tracy and William. Because of your help, I’m getting my sea
legs!
At my first Rector’s Forum, I shared the profound impact that the following
passage of
scripture has had on my life:
For surely I know the plans I have for
you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you
a future with hope. Then when you call upon me and come and pray to me,
I will hear you. When you search me, you will find me; if you seek me
with all your heart, I will let you find me, says the Lord, and I will
restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the
places where I have driven you, says the Lord, and I will bring you back
to the place from which I sent you into exile. Jeremiah
29:11-14.
I am more and more secure in proclaiming that
our future is indeed filled with hope. As I explore and learn about this
place called All Saints’ Episcopal Church, I see committed and faithful
people responding to God’s call and doing God’s work in a myriad of ways.
Whether it’s singing in the choir, helping out during the week at Saints’
Brew, guiding young children during Catechesis of the Good Shepherd,
preparing for and participating in meaningful worship, visiting the sick or
shut-ins, working with our youth or sharing gifts and talents in so many
other ways, the people of All Saints’ get it! Thank you for your commitment
to our shared ministry.
In the coming weeks, you can expect to learn how you can assist in taking
our common work to the next level, or to paraphrase Emeril, “How together we
can kick it up a notch!” Until then, I hope you and your family and friends
will commit to regular and faithful attendance in our Sunday morning
programming and worship. Sunday School is offered for adults, youth and
children each Sunday morning. Call the Church Office for details about the
offerings.
Central to our identity as Episcopalians is gathering as a community of
faith around God’s altar to share Christ’s body and blood. Participating in
Holy Eucharist is the spiritual practice that reorients each of us and the
entire faith community toward God’s future. When we gather around
God’s table we together lift up a vision of leadership of the whole people
of God in mission together, a vision that places a high value on
participation and collaboration of the entire faith community.
Join us at one of the two services of Holy Eucharist offered on Sunday, at
8:30 a.m. (note the new time!) or 10:30 a.m. A Public Service of Healing
& Eucharist is also offered each Wednesday at 12:05 p.m.
Know that you are in my prayers daily. I am available to visit, talk, listen
and pray with you. Stop by or call me at the church to set up an
appointment.
Shalom, Paul+
Beginning Feb 15...
JOIN US FOR THE RECTOR’S FORUM AT 9:30
ON
SUNDAY MORNINGS IN THE PARISH HALL.
