Dear Cathedral Family,
“Come and see.” These are Jesus’ words to the two curious disciples of John the Baptist in this Sunday’s gospel. They have heard John talk about Jesus and the divine events of his baptism, calling him the “Lamb of God.” Then they followed Jesus (literally), and when he turned and saw them, Jesus asked, “What are you looking for?” They said, “Where are you staying?” And he invited them to “come and see.” They went. And they stayed with Jesus and became his disciples and told others.
“Come and see” is the beginning of discipleship. It speaks to the seeker’s desire. It is pure and open invitation. It calls us into relationship, with Jesus and with others. It is Jesus’ generous follow up to his question, asked of each of us, “What are you looking for?”
What is it that you are looking for? Whatever that thing is that is your heart’s desire, it has somewhere within it God’s desire for you to have fullness of life. Seeking that fulness is the beginning, the first step of discipleship. It is following Jesus’ invitation to “come and see.”
Our stewardship theme for 2023, “Growing in Discipleship,” extends to more than stewardship of our physical resources and material gifts; it also applies to ourselves as resources and to the full use of our spiritual gifts.
During this season after the Epiphany, we will engage together in a couple of opportunities to explore our spiritual gifts. Beginning this week, you will receive a link to the Renewal Works Spiritual Life Inventory. Some of you will remember taking this inventory a few years ago as part of the beginning of our journey in the Baptized for Life initiative. Now that this experience has come to an end, we have been given the opportunity to complete this inventory once again. Our congregation had the highest level of participation in this survey the first time around, and I encourage you to engage with it again, both for your own benefit and to show again the strong response of a few years ago. Later in the season, we will be engaging with our own internal spiritual gifts inventory as part of our ongoing stewardship for 2023; stay tuned for more information.
I look forward to being with you during this season of discipleship as we continue to grow as the Cathedral Family.
Faithfully,
Beverly+