"The Season of Giving Thanks", St. Julian's Fall Stewardship Program Begins this Sunday, Oct 25:
I still remember coming home from the hospital with Amelia, our first child, almost seventeen years ago. It was only about 6 months after we launched St. Julian's in Henry Middle School (both still feel like they were only just yesterday!). And, though I had already had the experience of receiving important responsibilities in my life, like the planting of St. Julian's for the Episcopal Church, when we came home with Amelia the sense of responsibility and gratitude was surely "next level"! I will filled with all sorts of feels...from worry (I had never raised a child before!) to overwhelming joy at such a precious gift...and everything in between. But most of all what I felt was hope. Hope for what good God would accomplish in the life of this new child birthed into the world, and hope for how this child would change me more and more into the person God created me to be. And, surely God has used Amelia (a name that means the "work of the Lord") to bless and grow me as a person, parent, spouse and priest, and used her to bring much light, promise, joy and love into the many relationships she has formed in her almost 17 years.
As we come to the Season of Giving Thanks each fall at St. Julian's, I am always filled with similar sorts of feelings...responsibility, gratitude and hope. Responsibility to continue to nurture the life of this community that we, with God's help, have birthed into life. Gratitude for the ways St. Julian's has grown into a community that is shaping and blessing so many lives, both inside and beyond our church, with God's never-ending love. And, indeed, hope for the good that still lies ahead. For I continue to believe that St. Julian's is to be an ever growing center of redemptive love for the larger world around us, and, as I like to say, we are only at the beginning!
In this Season of Giving Thanks, I invite you to take intentional, prayerful time, as we will in church each Sunday, to reflect on the sense of responsibility, gratitude and hope that your own place in this family of faith incarnate in your life. My hope is that your heart is filled all the way up and that those feelings might overflow in joining my own family in making a commitment of prayer, time, talent and financial resources to expand and further the love-infused work God intends to do in and through us in the year to come. With the growth in staff...with our new facility that we are learning to use more and more impact-fully...with our growth in new members, I believe we are poised to dive more deeply than ever into our God-given vision to, "Grow in Relationship, Love all Well, and Seek Intimacy with Christ".
The Season of Giving Thanks begins officially this Sunday, Oct 25 and will conclude with our In-Gathering Services on Sunday, Nov 22, which is the Sunday we traditionally "gather-in" our pledges of prayer, time, talent and financial resources. However, you can even now begin submitting your pledges using our online pledge card (click here). Additionally, there will be paper pledge cards available in church beginning this Sunday. Even if your giving is already set and regular (for which we give thanks!) using your bank or Breeze, our online-giving platform, we hope you will complete a pledge card or the online form, as we don't assume anyone's giving will continue each new year and, of course, we hope you might prayerfully consider, as able, increasing your giving over time.
I am grateful beyond words to share this family of faith with each of you, and I look forward to spending a few weeks counting our blessings together and dreaming of what still lies ahead for this beloved community. If I can be of service in helping you discern the ways God is calling you to dive more deeply into St. Julian's, please don't hesitate to reach out, and I hope this reaches you and yours as well as possible.
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Peace and Warm Friendship,
Miles+
Rector, St. Julian of Norwich Episcopal Church