From the Rector

Dear Friends in Christ,

One of the real gifts at Saint Philip’s is our grounds and gardens. Anyone who walks them knows they have a soothing effect on the soul and communicate something of our connection to God and creation. I often think of a walk through them as an act of prayer, even when my mind is wandering elsewhere.

There’s an almost Easter-like moment when you travel that path, next to the road, toward the Columbarium garden. You trod along and see that big wooden door and then, when it opens, this beauty washes over you. It has that feeling of walking through Lent to the lush life of Easter.

I know many of us miss the chance to just walk and pray in them — none more so than those who, before the pandemic, had a chance to walk them daily. We’ve been fortunate that a few folks have been able to take care of them — Pam Henderson and the Garden Guild, Bob Couch and Buildings and Grounds, and Ayden Carrell, in particular.

 This pandemic has made it such a strange year. Not only do we not get to catch up with each other and worship, we also don’t all get to catch up with the grounds and gardens of the place itself either. So, fewer folks have done more to keep them up — even as we tightened up the budget to handle a turbulent year and had fewer resources to spend on the grounds.

As, we all pray, the end of the pandemic is coming into focus, my hope is that we will all get to catch up with the gardens and spaces soon. In the meantime, the wardens and I, along with the treasurer and vestry, are going to be talking with folks from the Garden Guild and Buildings and Grounds to think both about how to draw more volunteers to the ministry, divide up work that can be done by folks with little training but lots of energy, and also free up some additional resources to pay for work that can’t be accomplished by volunteers and staff alone.

One of the high priorities for our staff restructuring, as Lois and Mtr Kelli prepare to leave us, is to reassign some of the resources to a facilities manager. I’m thankful to Dick Powell, Bob Couch, and Herb Burton for thinking carefully about what that role will look like and how that person can best help us take care not only of day-to-day facilities and grounds needs but also help us handle the longer-term maintenance questions.

I am so thankful to those who have helped us, doing more than their fair share, to keep things up while so many of us have been away from the grounds through the pandemic. I am also thankful for the creativity and thoughtfulness that will go into the work of planning for what’s next and sustaining them long into the future. 

So much of our time this last year was devoted to the worship, prayer, and formation life of the congregation as we made our way through the pandemic. Holding together faithfully as a community was our first priority. Now, as we look toward what’s next, I’m so appreciative for the work that has been done and excited to build on that work in the months ahead.

God has made us, like nature, to be resilient and able to bounce back. This pandemic has pushed and pulled at our time, resources, and spiritual reserves. I’m so glad that we are at a point where we are not just planning for how to make it through, but for what is next. Part of that planning will be for our grounds and the gardens — and all of it is always to the glory of God.

Yours in Christ,

Fr Robert