Late January is known for many things in America.  The Superbowl is looming large in the minds of football fans.  Politicos are considering what the President’s State of the Union address will contain.  For those who are always ahead of the game, late January is the time when they start filing their tax returns, reminding the rest of us that it’s not long before we have to do the same.

In amongst all these things, in the Episcopal Church, late January is the time when we gather in annual meetings, to hear reports of the year past, to vote on various things and to spend some quality time together.

Today is the date of our annual parish meeting, and today also comes some 18 months after I first began my time here serving as your rector.  On this auspicious date, with my somewhat anniversary and our annual meeting in mind I want to share with you my reflections on the state of this church, looking at those things that we can and should celebrate in these months that have passed, and also at the steps forward that are there for our community in the months and years to come.  

 

The list of things that we as a parish family have to celebrate is long and illustrious.  

Since we began our ministry together our attendance at Sunday services of worship has risen to rates not seen at Saint James for some time.  Old families are returning and our congregation is growing.  New families are joining and our congregation is growing.  Children are being born and our congregation is growing.  

We can rightly be proud that this is the case—proud not simply because more seats are being filled, but because the Kingdom of Heaven is growing to fill all the whole earth.  It is God’s plan.  And we are a part of that growth.

Beyond sheer numbers we can celebrate the financial health that our congregation is slowly living into.  Financial resources are necessary for any area of ministry or life, and in the last year our parish came through financially in a much more healthy state than either of the previous two years.  It is true that our budget remains extremely tight and please understand, your support is vitally needed, but the good news I have to share is that you and those next to you are supporting this congregation.  And you have brought us to this place of health and gathering strength.

Beyond numbers and finances we have worked creatively with our staffing to increase the responsiveness of our staff to the needs of the congregation.  We did this first by saving thousands of dollars and gaining man-hours by hiring a sexton to take care of our cleaning and routine maintenance needs.  Our search process for a Minister of Music, which is nearing completion, is a second example. By developing our staff and hiring people particularly suited to our needs as a congregation, both our church and our ministries are strengthened.

In these past 18 months our Adult Christian Education Programs have run frequently, with great varieties of offerings, focusing on the areas of Scripture, Art, Church History and Christian Theology.  Our goal of offering courses almost constantly throughout the year is closer now than it ever has been.

And we have been gathering together to do more than just study or learn.  The Pastoral Care committee is helping this parish immensely and the Fellowship Committee has been doing exceptional work, not simply with their outstanding annual programs like the Harvest Dinner, but with new, monthly activities including a Euchre Card Party last night that had almost thirty people in attendance, playing cards and laughing and enjoying time together for hours and hours with jazz music playing in the background.

Truly this congregation is alive in more ways than we can easily count.  The Senior High Youth group doubled their program this year and is working toward a mission trip to Hurricane stricken Louisiana in June.  Our new bell tower is 90% of the way towards completion.  Thousands upon thousands of dollars were freely given to Episcopal Relief and Development last year to help those in dire need of emergency relief.  This congregation, this community of Christian Women and Men and Children, You have chosen to make this community great.  You have decided to honor the Holy Spirit by making this House of God a living house of prayer and thanksgiving and service.  And as a result God is glorifying his name in this place and will glorify it.

 

In the months ahead don’t be surprised to see this church continue to grow and branch out into ministries that you never would have imagined us doing.  What God moving among us means is that you or the person in front of you or the person behind you will get an idea and a strong sense that some ministry is needed in this church and it will happen.  Your gifts and how your can use your gifts to godly ends in this community will become more clear to you, clearer than you might have ever thought they could be.  

Ministry should not all be directed by the rector, because we are all called to be ministers by virtue of our baptism.  But some things are directed by the rector.  Today I am posting calls for people to become Lay Readers and Eucharistic Ministers at our services.  You may never have read before or thought about leading prayers in worship, but now is the time to consider it.  Classes will be offered in March to give you a month to consider the ministry and sign up.  

We also are offering a sign-up for anyone in the church to join a Dinner Club.  Groups of eight people with some similar interests will be formed and will take turns monthly either visiting someone’s home for a meal and conversation or hosting the group when it is your turn.

Further steps forward for this congregation include our new webpage with a video tour of our church available for newcomers, and our growing into even better financial security through your donations and those gifts that come from new members.  Additionally, vestry committees are in the process of forming that will evaluate (1) the use and needs for space in the congregation; (2) ways of developing an annual program of World Mission and Pilgrimage for adults to travel to holy sites around the world and pray and study there; and (3) continue and perhaps even further develop the quality of our children’s programs.  

As the opportunities for fellowship and study within this congregation develop, we also must go forward into our future ever more mindful of the needs of the guests who come among us weekly to test whether this is a place where they can feel comfortable.  Our guests need us to respect their space, but also to notice them, smile, introduce ourselves, and if we see them in future weeks, to remember them and go and say hello.  This is not self-serving.  It is hospitality.  It is sharing with them in the peace of Christ, and if they decide to stay, not treating them for months or years like newcomers, but treating them like family.

 

The spiritual state of our congregation is strong.  And it is strong because you are committed and because the salvation that we together find in Jesus Christ gives us the spiritual awareness we need to hear the call of the Holy Spirit and go with it.  

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, don’t let the successes that we have experienced here make you lazy.  Do not neglect your daily prayers or our weekly worship together.  Do not cease thanking God for his many blessings to us here and asking that these blessings continue to richly grow.  

Most of all, never let yourself stop reaching out in love to the others in this church family.  What we have here together is awesome and by the grace of God we haven’t seen anything yet.

Amen.