Perspective and prayers of thanks

Thanks to each of you who came on Sunday to welcome Bishop Shaw, and especially to Cathy Hughes and all those who made our delicious lunch. As you know, our annual meeting is this Sunday, so we will be having ONE worship service at 9 AM. At the annual meeting, I'll invite new members (to be an "official" member, you pledge for the year and come to church-pretty simple) to sign our membership book. It has signatures going back to the nineteenth century.
It gives a certain perspective; we are just taking care of this place for now, and others will come later. Stretching both back in time and forward in time, we are one church, one Body of Christ-however long we've been here or however long we'll stay. Below, I'm pasting my report to the annual meeting. If you didn't pick up a copy in church last Sunday, please go to our website to download a copy so you can read it before the meeting, or let me know you need one and I can email it to you.
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Report of the Rector, 2010
I think it is the writer Annie Lamott who has said that she only really knows two prayers: "please, please" and "thank you, thank you." I think the work of a report like this falls into the second category--it is a prayer of thanks.

Thanks to more people than I could name--but I will try.
Our wardens, Jonathan and Marcia, have been such a good team this year, and Suzanne Hughes and Shawn Russell have rounded out a wise executive committee that has led us far. Suzanne stepped into her role in 2008 after it had not been occupied by a "full time" treasurer for a number of years, and has done truly heroic work in getting us organized. That, coupled with her work as youth group leader during most of that time has often made me wonder if she sleeps! I also want to give deep thanks to Cathy Hughes for her work on fellowship. In looking for someone to take over, it is nearly impossible to cover all the things Cathy has done in her leadership on this front. Thanks, also, to Sheila Gillen, who is stepping down as wedding coordinator, having shepherded countless couple at Christ Church through that planning process. Having arrived as a relatively "green" priest (and not in the ecological sense") in 2005, she has certainly taught me a lot about the ins and outs of getting down the aisle. This year also marks the end of Alice Mula's leadership of the White Elephant room--a ministry that has equipped many kitchens (not to mention raised many dollars), over the years. Thanks to Alice and helper Marie Palmiotto. Shawn Russell is also moving on to a new ministry as treasurer, after having been clerk for 2 years. Finally, there are probably not enough words in the world to thank Marcia Luce for her support, honesty humor, and kindness since I arrived at Christ Church. She was senior warden when I arrived and then came back for another term after a short break. She has really been alongside me the whole time I've been here and I truly could not have done anything without her.

Happily, this year we also welcomed some new people into leadership who will continue to lead us into the future: the toddler room couldn't have gotten off the ground without Chris Jensen, and our Godly Play program got a great shot of energy when Erin Jensen came on board. Cindy Hutchison did a fantastic job on running the stewardship campaign when I was on leave, and I am thrilled she'll be our junior warden. Also in the "not enough words to thank" category is Jonathan Duce, who did a wonderful job when I was on maternity leave and led the parish through the rector discernment process. I write with deep gratitude to all of Christ Church as a parish for calling me as rector, and especially to him and Marcia.

There is a prayer in the rector installation liturgy which says "May God who has given you the will to do these things give you the grace and power to perform them." That is certainly where I find my own prayer these days--that's in the "please please" category. It is such a joy and occasion of grace to be able to minister with you. Especially when I was away I was so aware of how much my work as your priest is woven through my own life. I truly feel it is my vocation; it is part of the way that I "am" in this world--and I am grateful that my being the rector is also part of how Christ Church "is," too, at this time.

Going through our reports at the end of the year is always a combination of inspiring and daunting: inspiring, since it reminds me of how much we've accomplished, and a little daunting, as I think about how we will do that, and more, in the coming year! The Epistle reading for the 4th Sunday after Epiphany is the famous "love" passage from Paul's first letter to the Corinthians. It concludes, "For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love." When I arrived here at Christ Church a little over four years ago, that was what struck me most; the love that each of you hold for this place. In the last four years, we have grown by leaps and bounds--in our outreach, in our education, and in welcoming new friends. But that core of the love of Christ that I met when I first arrived is what all of those other accomplishments have been building on. The generations of Hewitts, and Hughes, and Lobos (and Larades and Coates), and our longtime leaders like those I mentioned above, have done more than just keep the doors open--they've also kept their hearts open, and that is the grace of God. Thank you, and thanks to everyone who has joined our parish and will travel with us into the future.

Blessings,
Sara+