From the Rector
Dear Friends in Christ,
I write this message having just come out of a strategic planning meeting where we discussed Saint Philip’s values, strengths, and opportunities. It was a great wide-ranging discussion that brought past, present, and future into focus.
Some of the words used in describing our parish included joy, generosity, and rootedness. Creativity, welcome, compassion, and generosity were others. A commitment to excellence as a mark of our commitment to be “all in” for Christ came up, too. Worship, music, and patterns of prayer were mentioned alongside inclusivity, openness, and welcome.
The sense that this is a place of tradition that looks for new ways to live and share that tradition informed much of the conversation. A commitment to justice, service to others, and care for one another were all named along with a commitment to intergenerational life together.
In a time of division, we talked about unity. In a time of isolation, we talked about what community means. In a time when people are lost, we talked about what it means for Saint Philip’s to be a home for so many.
We discussed needs, too—how we can broaden opportunities to grow spiritually, make ourselves more visible, deepen our commitment to diversity, raise up and recognize volunteers, and more.
The group was a mix of some of Saint Philip’s longest serving members and some of our newest. It was a mix of genders and outlooks. It was a mix of educators, entrepreneurs, and at-home parents. It reflected the changing face of the congregation—and the different ways people are finding us. There were lifelong Episcopalians and folks who aren’t Episcopalian yet.
The wonderful thing was that each person in that meeting loves this parish and has found a community where we seek to follow Jesus in old and new ways alike. They have found a community where scripture, tradition, and reason are all embraced and lived.
Our church isn’t perfect. But it is a church of which I am deeply proud. Even knowing that pride is a sin, I will put that out there!
Saint Philip’s is a rare place. It is a place where more than 900 home communion visits happen every year and a place where 70 parents and kids from our Children, Youth, and Family ministries got together for dinner the other night. It is a place where we sing Evensong in the beauty of this historic architecture and where we sing Compline out in the city under a ceiling of stars. It is a place where the stability of the ancient and the possibility of what’s next exist side-by-side.
I am proud to support Saint Philip’s. In this, our stewardship season, I urge you to pledge, too, if you are able. It is how we craft our budget and plan for the future. It is how we determine what resources we have to care for the gifts we have inherited. It is how we determine who we can hire, how we can serve, and where we go next in meeting the needs of the wider community.
If you have not yet pledged but intend to, here is the link to make your gift online:
If you would like to talk more about pledging, what it means, and how it works, I am happy to have a conversation with you. There are few ways I can give in my life that help me be the person I long to be, shape the community I want my kids to grow up in, express the values I hold dear, and offer back to God something of the love he has shown me. Pledging is how I can do all of that (and more) by daring to be generous.
Thank you for all the ways you make life at Saint Philip’s one for which I am deeply thankful and to which I am delighted to give so it can flourish.
Yours in Christ,
—Fr Robert