From the Rector

Dear Friends in Christ,

We will mark All Saints Day this coming Sunday, November 6. It is also our pledge ingathering Sunday. Here’s my take on both events during a time when lots of churches are doing stewardship campaigns: I’ve always thought it appropriate that these two, All Saints and Ingathering, are marked together.

Giving doesn’t make you a saint.

But saints are never those who don’t give.

Our whole common life is built upon the lives and witness of the saints. Every word of scripture comes to us from them. Acts of mercy, forgiveness, and love are their legacy. Great buildings and small missions and whole nations have been built by them.

They’ve inspired the hymns we sing, the prayers we pray, the liturgies we celebrate, the artwork we revere, the anthems and requiems and motets that stir and inspire us.

At Saint Philip’s, it’s the columbarium garden, the fishpond garden, the altar, the artwork, the bell, the tower, the labyrinth, and the quiet garden. It’s the organ, the baptismal font, and the candlesticks.

Everything we enjoy together. Every morsel of bread we take on Sundays. Every sip of wine. Every meal we make possible in our food bank. Everything we do, are, and aspire to be as the Church is given to us because saints gave. Saints sacrificed and followed the call of Christ to love.

Saints give.

Giving doesn’t make you a saint.

But saints have never been those who don’t give.

Thank you so much for following the examples of the saints and giving to make life at Saint Philip’s rich, full, and life-giving in so many ways.

Yours in Christ,

—Fr Robert