St. Paul's Episcopal Church
1924 Trinity Avenue Walnut Creek 94596
Office Phone - (925) 934-2324 Contact Us
Worship Times: Sunday 7:30 am •
Sunday 10:00 am
| St. Paul's Episcopal Church | |
| Rector's 2011 Annual Address to the Parish Given Sunday, 30 January, 2011 Watch a video of this address by clicking the following film clip icon  The “Beatitudes” or the “Sermon on The Mount” is one of the most recognized of Jesus’ discourses. Jesus often taught his followers by use of parable - using stories to make his message clear. But in this case, he seems to be preaching a very straightforward message. Some say there is a fine line between preaching and meddling. Did Jesus cross that line? I have to say, I may have crossed that line once or twice. I remember one young man sitting in my office and saying that my sermons were too preachy. I was having a hard time figuring out whether that was a compliment or a complaint! Well, now I wonder, how can I give the message without preaching? That's when I have to tip my hat to the Super Bowl advertisers because they have mastered the art of putting their message out there in ways that people enjoy and remember. And that is the important part. You want to give people a message they will remember. Jesus had that ability. Jesus said things that people remembered and they wrote them down for others to remember. Just about two thousand years later, we are still repeating the words and honoring the example that Jesus gave us as his legacy. So what is Jesus' legacy? We are his legacy - what we do here at this church is the evidence that Jesus ever existed. We are his living legacy. How do we manifest our faith and give witness that we belong to Jesus Christ? "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." "Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.” We are blessed that people who experienced illness, loss, brokenness and other calamities had a place to turn to in their time of need. Our Pastoral Care team, which includes Good Sams, Respite for Caregivers, Healing Team, and Lay Eucharistic Visitors made hundreds of visits, many meals, provided transportation, sent prayers, and laid hands on hundreds of souls in our parish. "Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.” Last year we began to explore a deeper commitment to our Outreach ministry, renaming it Faith in Action to more clearly focus on the motivation for the many ways we offer comfort to those outside our parish. Faith in Action served hundreds of people through many efforts at Mountain View Shelter in Martinez, Warm Winter Nights in our Parish Hall, Shelter Meals out of Concord, Food Pantry, Kitchen Kits, Youth Homes, Interfaith Housing Garden Home in Pleasant Hill, Fresh Start in our own Fellowship House. We house 12-step groups every day, all over our campus, helping those with various addictions find their way back to healthier lives. A new ministry was launched called Living Our Faith, which is dedicated to discovering and acting on root causes of poverty, hunger, lack of medical care and other injustices in our community. That ministry is currently looking at ways to help Youth Homes in a new initiative to teach young people marketable skills so that they can break the cycle of poverty in which they grew up. "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.” Led by our Youth Leaders and Associate for Ministry, our Youth Ministry has grown and the integration of children and youth in our Liturgies has greatly enhanced our appeal to families with young children. Youth Group activities became year round events including summer retreats and mission trips; and we are currently preparing a group for confirmation at Grace Cathedral. Godly Play continues to offer a very effective environment where school age children can explore their faith and “wonder” aloud with their excellent teachers. Weaving God’s Promises was introduced for the older grade school children with great success. Noisy Mass was launched in the Fall and continues to provide a haven for parents who have very small children so that their children have a more intimate space in which to learn about God in a child friendly environment. “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.” We experienced grave challenges in our common life last year and in response the Vestry's conflict resolution team developed a process by which we can address parish members' concerns. Last year's vestry had to learn how to manage the effects of a faltering economy, concerns from church members and the usual business of running a busy parish like ours. We learned that together, we can address any issue and grow and learn from one another. A key element is to have direct communication and show mutual respect and affection for one another. The Vestry's efforts to focus on our strengths came to fruition when the Vestry led our whole parish in making our Lessons and Carols event a major opportunity to invite people to church. Since the fall of this past year, we have experienced a new spirit of enthusiasm for our church evidenced by an increase in visitors to our Sunday worship. Our worship attendance is better and our core of partners in ministry, our volunteers, continue to make this parish shine. And although we have a deficit carry over, our pledge campaign was successful enough to give us a healthy and realistic hope for better things to come in 2011. We had over 100 people at our Volunteer Luau where we honored all our hard working partners in ministry. It was a real joy! Our Adult Formation series were well attended and the Women's Retreat was bigger than ever. The Men's Retreat has been resurrected and a new Men's book study has begun. We welcomed 18 new people into membership bringing our visitor retention rate up from past years. These are true signs of health and vitality upon which we will focus. Focusing on our strengths gives us more energy and enthusiasm for the work ahead, and we have many strengths. For the sake of clarity and brevity let me name our three most significant strengths: 1. God Loves Us. 2. We love God. 3. We are committed to show God's love through our love for others. “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” We live in an area of the country where about 90% of the population has made a conscious effort to walk away from “organized religion”. I like to quip that that is one of the reasons I love the Episcopal Church - because we’re not all that organized! But talk about a “target rich environment”! We have a lot of work to do! While we are not openly persecuted in our part of the world - as some Christians are in other parts of the world - we do suffer from being stereotyped by the public at large. How do we undo that stereotype? Well that is our focus for the coming year. We want to continue our efforts at “growing an engaged church community”. The most effective way forward is for us to do this together. Our success at Lessons And Carols showed us what we can do when we all focus on one goal. Let me use an illustration to show you how important your involvement is to our future. Our church is like a rowing team that needs rowers to get to the promise land. Many have signed up to row and they are in the boat rowing away, but the team needs more to help them get to their destination. Because we're missing some rowers, the rest of the team has to row harder and longer, but they manage. And then, more people sign up to row and the boat is moving really well! It becomes so much easier and more fun to reach our goal when we all row - and we commit to row in the same direction. We have a great year ahead for us - all we need to do is participate and do our bit. God would not give us a heart to grow if God didn't also give us the tools to grow. We have a great parish because of the wonderful people who are committed to God through this church. Let's continue to put our energy and focus on our strengths. Let's put our resources into the things we do well. When we focus on what makes us special, we become even more attractive to others who need a place to shine and grow. There is life ahead - there is grace ahead - there is purpose and meaning and joy awaiting us. Blessed are you when you answer God's call to work together for God's reign. AMEN.  | 
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