September 23, 2021
EVERY PERFECT GIFT!
The Stewardship 2022 Campaign
My Dear Doubters of Great Faith,
If you have been on the property, in our sacred space over the past few weeks, you surely have noticed the “swarm” of beautiful butterflies that adorn the pathway into our beloved Nave, pointing the way, a proverbial “yellow-brick-road” leading us on the journey through baptism, toward the altar, and beyond to the foot of the cross of Jesus. It is the creative gift of the time, talent, and treasure of Mr. Stephen Toon and his merry band of decorators (the veritable Kathy Carson, who does as she is told!).
The journey that a single butterfly makes is so singularly synonymous with the many, varied, unique, and yet united journeys that we each find ourselves on. Butterflies, these signs and symbols of spiritual rebirth, change, transformation, hope, and new life, represent the many different possibilities that each of us lives into through our Christian faith. Going into cocoons and emerging radiant, resplendent, and new is something that we all can hope toward by virtue of the great good news of the Gospel.
And if there ever were a time that we needed that hope, that transformation, that rebirth into new life, it seems now would be the time!
But this particular sacred journey that we are on, as The Episcopal Church of St. Thomas the Apostle, all we “Doubters of Great Faith,” necessarily involves ALL of us, each and every one. Over the past 18 months, we have been in this cocoon of COVID-19 isolation, from each other, and the many ways that we knew how to do and to be “Doubters.” We are stretching, learning, leaning into the hope of a new day that is only just beginning to emerge.
What will our transformation look like? Who will we be as the people of God, on this very most important and strategic corner of God’s kin-dom, in 2022?
So much of that depends on you. Each and every Sunday morning, I am fond of saying that “your presence is a gift of the Holy Spirit.” Just by virtue of showing up, you bring a piece of the Holy Spirit into this place. Together we assemble Holy Spirit presence. Together we light the way for each other, and others, to find that very same hope in transformation. Together we make Jesus Christ’s incarnational work possible.
I hope and pray that you will be with us each and every Sunday of the “Every Perfect Gift” campaign. I hope and pray that you will lift up your church community in daily prayers of thanksgiving for the generosity that God has bestowed upon us to have this community. I hope and pray that you will prayerfully consider how you will support your community of faith throughout the coming year from your many gifts of time, talent, and treasure.
St. Thomas the Apostle IS NOT St. Thomas the Apostle without YOU.
Please come doubt with me!
Fr. Christopher+
