October 2009
Jesus called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” (Mk 8.34)
Dear People of Grace,
I was blessed to spend a few days in Colorado last week - hiking and reading (not at the same time, of course.) And as always, my trip to the mountains was absolutely awe inspiring. The aspen trees were changing from green to yellow, the sunrises and sunsets were beautiful, the weather was perfect, and the views from my hikes were glorious. The glory of God was all around me, and it reaffirmed to me how important it is that we continue to do everything that we can to share God’s love and grace with as many others as possible. We simply cannot keep a gift as magnificent as God’s provision to humankind to ourselves; it must be shared.
Rally Day was a great start to that purpose. Thanks to all of you for pledging your time and talent in a variety of ways to help with the ministries of Grace Church. I am particularly grateful for the large number that signed up to be part of one or more of our Fall Outreach projects. These projects are our opportunities to take up the cross of Christ, and be his disciples to the world; so thank you for so generously offering your support.
In addition to our many church projects and ministries in the next few months, it is also time for our annual Stewardship campaign—the time when you are asked to pledge some of your treasure to the life of Grace Church. You will receive a letter from the Stewardship Committee this month, and I hope that you will prayerfully consider how you can help support the wonderful work that Grace is doing. We are a smaller group now, and our ability to be self sustaining has been compromised by our losses in property and people. Therefore, we all need to contribute in order for Grace to continue to be an effective voice for Christ in Galveston. This year we plan to do something different for our stewardship season. In addition to the usual opportunity to tithe for the upcoming year, the committee intends to survey our congregation about the future direction of Grace. The purpose of the survey is to help the Grace leadership prioritize our use of resources in a way that best coincides with the needs and wishes of our congregation and our calling from God. The survey will be distributed over two Sundays in early November.
I want to again express my appreciation to all of you for the amazing resilience that you have shown in in the past year. We have prayed together, cried together, and rebuilt together. However, taking up our cross means that we are never finished with the Lord’s work. As much as we have done, there is still much more left to do. I pray that we will do all that we can to help Grace continue to be the small church with the biggest heart in Galveston.
Yours in the love of Christ,
Fr. Paul+