Dear Friends in Christ:
When I was with you at St. Martin’s in July 2019 after Father McComas departed, I preached a sermon that ended with me inviting you all to reflect on the change that you, as individuals, were opening yourselves up to. Then I invited you to write that change on a 3×5 card and put it in an envelope.
My intention was to send these cards to you just a bit more than 6 months after that sermon but then COVID and all kinds of other things happened. I sense that now is a good time to return these cards to you, as you reflect on the results of the parish survey.
Below please find the final paragraphs of the sermon, I preached, which will help you recall the questions to which you were responding.
Please know that you remain in my thoughts and prayers day by day!
Blessings,
Janet+
A while back when Father Courtland Moore was preaching on this Gospel story, he summarized it this way, “I have always thought that the Gospel story for today, about Martha and Mary, typifies the differences between those who want to tell God how to run his universe and those who are willing to wait for him.”
During this season of transition at St. Martin’s, change will happen. You’ll get an interim rector, you’ll do a search process, you’ll talk about mission, you’ll make decisions, you’ll get a new rector. Change will happen. But the question is, what will help you to set aside anxiety and to sit at Jesus’s feet? What do you need to let go of? What sadness? What anger? What worry? What do you need to take up? What healing? What forgiveness? What hope?
At the end of your pew, you will find 3×5 cards and a security envelope. I invite you to take the 3×5 card and write on it the change you’re opening yourself up to so that you can wait on God, so that you can be a conduit for God’s love and light here at St. Martin’s and beyond. Then please take an envelope and put your name and address on it. Put the card in it and seal it up. Then put it in the offering plate. Six months from now, I will send it back to you, so that you can catch a glimpse of what God has been up to in and through you.