From the Interim Rector
Dear Friends,
On the day of Pentecost, which we celebrate on Sunday, May 24, something remarkable happened in Jerusalem.
People from every corner of the known world—different languages, different cultures, different ways of seeing—found themselves in the same place, hearing and being heard across every boundary that had divided them.
It was not that they suddenly agreed on everything.
It was that something deeper than agreement became possible: recognition.
Presence. The experience of love that subsumed all markers of identity under the encounter with Spirit we call Holy. Undeniable recognition of what deeply joined them.
We live in an anxious time. A fearful time. Most of us carry worries we rarely speak aloud—about our country, our families, our future, the world our children and grandchildren will inherit.
These concerns don’t disappear when we gather for worship. They come with us through the doors.
This Pentecost season, Saint Philip’s is creating space for something that is increasingly rare: honest, unhurried conversations in Connection Circles across difference, held in a spirit of mutual respect and Christian love.
Not to debate. Not to persuade. Not to resolve.
Simply, to speak what is true for us, and to honor what is true for one another.
We will gather on Sunday, May 31, after the 10:00am service for no more than 90 minutes. We will sit in small groups of eight, with a facilitator at each table. There will be no agenda other than listening—and being listened to.
Whatever keeps you up at night, whatever alarms you about this moment in our common life, your voice belongs in this room. Especially if you suspect your concerns might differ from those of the person sitting next to you. The invitation is especially for you.
We are not gathering to change minds. We are gathering because we belong to one another in Christ—and that belonging asks something of us to stretch beyond games of who is right and who is wrong.
In great appreciation of this community that is Saint Philip’s,
—Richard
