On Sunday we celebrate our patronal feast, The Conversion of St. Paul. We will also have our Annual Meeting between the services (9 a.m.). This is the closest thing we have to a “Homecoming” Sunday. It is a day when we celebrate all that is St. Paul’s: past, present, and future. At the Annual Meeting we will hear from leaders of the church about the exciting things going on and being planned at St. Paul’s.
We will hear that our finances are sound, our ministries are growing, and our campus is receiving much needed maintenance as we continue to do the slow but important work of planning for the future of our campus. I am struck by the faithfulness of those who have gone before us here at St. Paul’s; and those who are with us still who have given so much of their time, talent, and treasure to make our beloved parish what it is. They answered the call, when they heard “Follow Me.”
To paraphrase Frederick Buechner, they served according to where their greatest gifts matched the greatest need. Like St. Paul, these saints answered the call and that is really inspiring. May we be inspired in our own day to love and serve the Lord. The third verse of our closing hymn on Sunday, “Our Father, by whose servants,” really brings it home for me.
They reap not where they labored; we reap what they have sown;
Our harvest may be garnered by ages yet unknown.
The days of old have dowered us with gifts beyond all praise;
Our Father, make us faithful to serve the coming days.
Faithfully,
