Rector's Warden Report: February 3rd, 2023
I'm looking forward to seeing you at our all-parish Choral Eucharist on Sunday, Feb. 5th at 10:30 with an all-parish conversation immediately following in the Parish Hall, with refreshments provided by our Children, Youth, and Families Ministry. While you think about Sunday, please keep in mind what you love about St. Martin's. How does St. Martin's feed your soul? What brought you to St. Martin's and what keeps you here? What do you see as our strengths and our challenges?
To prepare for Sunday, it may be helpful to take a few minutes to reflect on your point of view and experience. Perhaps you can think chronologically about the different seasons you've gone through since you first entered the church or parish hall; or passed by before you came and peeked in.
Since I've been married and had kids, I think about my life in terms of my family's stages. We were new to Chestnut Hill. My family was young and we did some one-stop church shopping at St. Martin's. Our oldest was going on 6 and we had a one year old. We attended the service geared for toddlers and moved on to the family service and Sunday School. Both Joe and Willy were in choir through middle school. They were acolytes and crucifers. We cheered them on at the Acolyte Olympics.
Bob was on vestry and an usher. He was on the Properties Committee. I was one of the youth group leaders and had a Stephen Minister for a while after my mother passed away. I traveled to South Dakota and Guatemala with a few youth groups. Joe, too, travelled with St. Martin's to Guatemala and South Dakota. Willy helped pack food in Germantown during the peak of the pandemic with his St. Martin's friends.
Bob, Joe, Willy, and our cousin Adrian helped light up Pastorius Park pond with floating candles when we couldn't have services in the church because of the pandemic. That cold December night, Willy put on waders and used a net to fish out all the candles. Now my kids are old enough to be ushers - but not too old to perform in the Christmas Eve pageant with their mom. Throughout, we had our ups and downs as a family; and, St. Martin's was always part of it.
It's not always easy being in a family. There are various personalities, tastes, outside factors, and logistics. We often don't want to do the same thing at the same time and have trouble deciding on a movie together. Sometimes, the decision time lasts as long as a movie would last. Or we learn that there's a problem in our midst, and we didn't realize it had been brewing for a while - even though we believed we were paying attention. Or it erupted while we were paying attention and it all happened too fast. And then there are surprises. Yet, we keep voluntarily coming together for dinner and holidays and prioritizing our time together. What do you keep coming back for at St. Martin's? Regardless of what that may be, I'm glad you're here. You enrich my life.
Gratefully,
Barbara
Tags: Clergy & Staff
