Holy Week/Easter 2011

During the past several weeks, I have had the pleasure to walk with members of our congregation as they have prepared to either formally affirm their mature faith in confirmation or be welcomed into full membership in The Episcopal Church (USA). I have listened to their questions, loved their answers, embraced their doubts and shared their hopes. Each one of them has a very different story, and they are all blessed with distinctive gifts of Spirit and faith. They have all been touched by the Word of God and by our manner of worship. And all have responded to God's call and accept their responsibilities to share in God's work. These new and renewed members of the Christian Church are at the heart of the traditions of our Lenten and Easter seasons, a time of preparation and covenant through which we all share as members of the body of Christ in His work in the world. We, as a congregation and faith community, have made these young and not-so-young people welcome at St. Mary's, have inspired them to growth in their own faith, and have come to look forward to how they will help guide our small faith community as we continue to share the Gospel in east Erie County. While we celebrate their formation and acceptance of God's invitation, we are also bolstered in our own faith, knowing that by word and example we have lived into our own Baptismal Covenant. We have shared the faith and practice of our denomination, we have share how we have been blessed and redeemed by Christ, we have shared our own struggle to see Christ's face in the face of everyone we meet. We are humbled that our children and our friends wish to join us in our faith journey at the Mission of St. Mary's in Lawrence Park. How wonderful to fully embrace this seasonal tradition that has been a part of the Church for two millennia. This is our season of growth, of strenghthening, of evangelizing. Let us give thanks to God for Jesus Christ, who loved us so that He shared His Body and Blood that we might be redeemed from hatred, intolerance and fear, and brought us to new life in the Spirit and eternal life with God. Let us hold up our confirmands and newly received members, Beau, Denny, Jason, Josh, Linda, Matt, Morgan, Neal, and Samantha, in prayer. May God continue to work in them and in us to make manifest His glory in the world!