August 8, 2024

Our Continuing Discernment
We announced at our discernment conversation last week that St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church, whose Rector is leaving at the end of the month, had reached out to us about possibly pursuing some sort of partnership. Last night the Vestries of Resurrection and St. Matthew’s met together. We had a very hopeful and uplifting conversation and made some new friends and decided unanimously to continue our conversation led by a Diocesan consultant. We have no set goal or time table other than to work together in love and hope and see what emerges. One experiment may develop sooner than any formal arrangement. St. Matthew’s being without a priest, may ask me to supply for them for some months as our conversations move forward, providing them with a priest on Sundays and giving both St. Matthew’s and me a chance to get to know one another for our own discernment. Since I cannot be in two places at once, if we do pursue this arrangement, one or both parishes will need to adjust service times. Our Vestries will be meeting together again in early September so that we can decide if this a path we want to follow and how we will make it possible. Please take some time to think, pray and discern in the coming weeks and let your Vestry know your thoughts.

Special Guest
When I first was ordained as a Deacon, my Bishop in the Diocese of Lexington took me with a few other clergy on a pilgrimage to Haiti. There we saw what life was like in the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. Our hearts broke every day. We also saw the work that is being done there by the Episcopal Church and by other agencies, chiefly an outreach called Food for the Poor, that had arranged the pilgrimage. Amidst scenes of utter and unimaginable misery, we still saw the hungry fed, the lame walking, the naked clothed, and good news proclaimed to the poor. This Sunday August 11 at both services we will welcome Deacon Frederico Garza, a speaker from Food for the Poor, who will tell us about their ministries in Haiti and other places and offer us ways we can help. As we read these weeks about the feeding of the 5000 and Jesus as the true bread, it will be good to have a reminder that God’s children are starving and that we can help.

Sunday Forum
At this week’s Sunday Forum we will have an opportunity to talk further with our guest speaker, Deacon Frederico Garza, about the work of Food for the Poor and how we can help.