I want to thank everyone who made last weekend such a special time for our parish family of St. Paul’s. To all those who helped to plan, organize, and accomplish our Annual Parish Meeting and Festive Meal, we all say “THANKS!”
At our Annual Meeting we elected Jim Garner, Beth George, Bob Helander, and Jane van Gigch to our Vestry. Please pray for these four wonderful people as they begin their three-year commitment of servant-leadership in our community. We also thanked Bob Chapin for his many years of service to St. Paul’s as our Chancellor. Finally, we honored Kathleen Megan as our 2017 Volunteer of the Year. In so many ways, both Bob and Kathleen embody the spirit of St. Paul’s, a spirit of selfless service in the name of Christ.
At our Festive Meal, we thanked our four outgoing Vestry members: Jennifer Kilpatrick, Stephen Linebaugh, Margo Vuicich, and Ellen Walton. I’m so grateful for the leadership and support that these four incredible people gave to me personally, and to our entire parish family, during their time on Vestry.
Today we place all of our completed 2018 pledge cards on the altar and ask God to bless these symbols of our commitment to the work of God through the ministries of St. Paul’s. Our annual pledge is a sacred, tangible expression of our faith and trust in the grace of God, active and alive in our parish.
To all those who have made their 2018 stewardship pledge, I say thank you. To all those who are still prayerfully discerning your financial support of St. Paul’s for 2018, I encourage you to make your pledge as soon as possible. As a parish, we depend on the financial commitment of our members and friends in order to accomplish all that we do in God’s name. As St. Paul’s Second Letter to the Corinthians reminds us, “Whoever sows generously will also reap generously.” [2 Cor. 9:6]