Dear Cathedral Family,
Christmas seems just to have ended, and already we find ourselves past the midpoint of January. Mardi Gras is ramping up, and then soon it will be Lent. Time seems to collapse and fold in on itself.
This Sunday in our parish meeting, we will look back at 2023. There we experienced, in addition to one of the hottest summers on record, a year of preparation for the beginning of our bicentennial year. Then the joyful celebration on All Saints’ Sunday was an opportunity to reflect on 200 years of faithfulness through times of great change and challenge. Over those generations, the ministries of Christ Church have adapted to the shifting needs of our community as it experienced not only wars, social unrest, and pandemics but also growth, advancement, and health. Through much transformation, Christ Church remained constant in its mission: proclaiming the gospel, being the Body of Christ, sharing Christ’s presence and God’s love the changing world around us. In our meeting we will look back at our fiscal health in the year past and give thanks for the graduating vestry class whose three years of service was a journey through pandemic and uncertainty to our present moment in time.
We will also turn our attention to the year ahead in 2024. During worship we will install and pray for the incoming Vestry Class of 2026, whose three years of service will encompass opportunities and challenges we cannot clearly see from our moment in time. In our meeting, we will look at projections of what our needs will be for the year ahead. We will give thanks for the steadfast faithfulness of leadership and staff, and we will pray for continuing good stewardship of the gifts and mission entrusted to us.
The lessons from scripture this Sunday recall God’s steadfast love and encourage our trust in God’s fulfillment of promises. The gospel will call us to answer readily the call that comes to us now, in our time.
I look forward to sharing ministry with you all in the year ahead.
Faithfully,
Beverly+