Dear Friends in Christ,

This coming Sunday, we welcome Bishop Reddall for Saint Philip’s Day. Of course, the technical feast title is the Feast of Saint Philip and Saint James. So poor Saint James gets short shrift here too often!

We have a number of folks being confirmed, more being received into the Episcopal Church, and a baptism too. It will be a wonderful morning of welcoming people not only to life at Saint Philip’s but to life in Christ.

That’s the fun and glorious part of parish life.

Of course, we also get other things happening, too, that are less fun. For example, we have 150 feet of sewer line that has collapsed by the children’s center. We have roof estimates for the children’s center and music center coming in that elicit groans every time one is read at a meeting, too! The drainage issues continue to be addressed. Now that the historic tile has been stabilized and refreshed, we know that the other roof sections will now need attention on top of the church and gallery.

All of that is to say that parish life is a wonderful mix of the mundane and the miraculous!

We are considering ways to handle some of those emerging expenses. Our hope is to have those “must-do” projects funded and completed soon to lay the foundation for the master plan to really take off. It doesn’t make much sense to launch new work while these other needs are looming. Luckily, we have some sources identified for funding, but of course, that diverts those funds from being available for other projects and possibilities.

Replenishing those funds will undoubtedly be part of a capital campaign at some point. One of our commitments is to layer in the monies to preserve whatever work is done to provide for long-term sustainability.

Parish planning is always a mix of three things. Preserving what has come before. Caring for what is vital now. Preparing for what will be needed in the future. This is true of programming and parish life as much as it is of buildings and natural beauty.

We’ve invested much in preparing for the future here. We see that in our CYFM program in particular. There are few places able to put the staff resources into the care and nurture of children that we do here.

When you consider, for example, how a child who joins the choir as a young chorister, takes part in religious formation and regular patterns of practice and worship, does service and mission projects, joins pilgrimages and residencies, and more then you begin to realize the investment we make in each and every child who comes here and gets involved.

There are many ways resources can be deployed in a parish. Almost every one of them is good. We have taken as our priority the future. That includes the intensive use of resources to support and equip our children and families for life in Christ. We cannot do everything well. But we can be proud of what we do manage, by grace, to do well.

We will get a chance to celebrate together on Sunday morning as the future of Saint Philip’s is welcomed, confirmed, and baptized. We will also continue to find that balance between caring for what has come before while preparing for what might yet come to be.

In the meantime, we have a sewer to fix!

Yours in Christ,

—Fr Robert