The Anaphora

Continuing with our recent examination of the Sunday liturgy, we now come to the “anaphora.” Though it is one piece and some believe it should be seamless and uninterrupted in execution, the Sunday celebration of Holy Eucharist divides into two parts. There is as some would say, the liturgy of the word and then the liturgy of the table. Said differently, there is the liturgy of hearing God’s word spoken and preached and then there is the liturgy for consecrating and receiving communion. Our practice and that seen in many other Episcopal churches is to have something of a pause between the two for announcements. But, as some might note, announcement time is not a piece of the liturgy and does not belong in the service. They would probably say “Do those before or after.”

Anaphora is a Greek word meaning “carry up” so meaning an offering. It is the offering of ourselves to be a “reasonable, holy, and living sacrifice”, an offering our gifts, and a memorial of Christ’s selfoffering. The anaphora portion of our worship has many names including The Great Thanksgiving, the Lord’s Supper, the Canon of the Mass, and Holy Eucharist, though the latter really refers to both the liturgy of the word and the liturgy of the table as one piece. And to give you another liturgy term with which to impress or bore someone, the “pro anaphora” is everything that comes before the anaphora. So, the liturgy of the word. Got it? This will be on Jeopardy.

Now, grab your Prayer Book and turn to page 361. Rite I folks, I invite you into Rite II territory just for education. Thank you for playing along. You will see the text in bold, The Great Thanksgiving and a note in italics about alternative forms. The italicized notes are important. They are called rubrics and they provide guidelines and boundaries for the execution of the liturgy. The Prayer Book authorizes six forms of the Eucharistic Prayer. There are others authorized by the church that are found in the book Enriching our Worship. For now, just spend some time with Eucharistic Prayer A, its content and rubrics. Think about what you see on Sunday and what the rubrics require. Do you see me doing things differently?

The Prayer Book rubrics assume that the clergy are standing in front of the altar rather than behind it. Actually, the text says “holy table” not altar. There is a lot of history, and some of it a history of infighting and religious wars, hidden in these words. Likewise with the rubrics for touching the bread and cup, and that the bread and the cup are given to communicants. Did you know there was a time when the cup was not shared with the laity? That we do this and it is required that we do this is not small thing.

Lastly, we get to a critical piece of the liturgy. The post communion prayer is not a wrapping up prayer. It’s not “we are done, let’s get this over and off to coffee hour.” It is an affirmation that what we have just done has prepared us for the work we have ahead of us out in the world. It says that Eucharist is preparation for mission and ministry. So, while our time together has been valuable in itself, our time together has been for receiving what we need in order to be the people of God serving the mission of God in the world. Go now in peace to love and serve the Lord. And please mind the rubrics.

Grace and peace,
Fr. Bill+

Elements of Worship - Part 1

A hymn, psalm, or anthem may be sung. The people standing, the Celebrant says

So begins the opening of the liturgy for the celebration of Holy Eucharist in the Episcopal Church. The liturgy begins with directions called rubrics. The rubrics help to give common form to our worship. As a people who see themselves as part of one worldwide body of Anglicans, common worship is valued. We like to know that while some may worship in Spanish or Japanese, their worship is much like ours in form and content. This, we believe, is an essential part of being one body in Christ.

I am focusing on the commonality of our worship and elements of that because I had a recent conversation with someone whose faith tradition had been in liturgical churches yet she never did understand why they did what they did. All that ritual and all those physical movements and all those gestures were never explained to her. She is now a member of a nondenominational faith community that has a structure but nothing close to what she left. I think that is a great loss even if she is currently happy with her new church.

Our liturgy is based upon ancient liturgies. We look to the earliest evidence available because we value commonality. We want to keep a consistency over time with what we believe is the worship of the ancient church, that which is closest to the time of the apostles and the first public gatherings of those who called themselves Christians. We believe in one universal church and one way we express that is common worship across space and time.

The earliest gatherings of Christians were in the synagogues and in the homes of followers of Christ. The house church, popular in many places today, has an ancient tradition. Each community, likely encompassing the whole of major cities, had one overseer who we call a bishop. Most of the time, the faithful gathered in private homes and on occasion would be called together for the celebration of Eucharist with the bishop residing. In the early days, there were bishops and deacons, but no priests although the office of priest was known from the Jewish tradition. Those early large gatherings with the bishop would take place in a public space, often some large municipal hall. These were not places designed or equipped for worship as we know it. There were no pews, aisles, altars, choir lofts, and so forth.

When the service was to begin it was necessary to have some way of calling the gathering to order as people were standing about just as one would find at any large public gathering. That was the advent of the opening salutation. Yes, the words are a spiritual statement of faith, but they are also meant to call the gathered to order and for worship to begin. Much preferred I think to pounding a gavel. They also borrowed from civil practice. When a public official of some status would visit there would be a ceremonial procession of that official to the place where they would speak. The early church adopted this ceremonial practice for the bishop, and wedded with the call to order, we get the practice of an opening hymn and procession plus words of greeting like:

Blessed be God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

The people acknowledging they heard that and indicating that they are ready for worship say in reply:

And blessed be his kingdom, now and for ever. Amen.

Again, all of this is just the opening of worship but we see that it has ancient roots and practical purposes. Is this no longer necessary? Perhaps not for some, but if we desire to stay in communion with our ancient brothers and sisters and to be one church across time and space then we continue to do what they did not just for practical reasons but for spiritual reasons.

There is much more to be said about why we do what we do. I will be commenting on that in the months to come.

Grace and peace, Fr. Bill+

A New Year

Happy new year to all. The new year offers us a new beginning and so a new or renewed hope. It offers us a chance to say goodbye to the things of the past. The new year is a beginning and an end, and so a liminal moment, a moment of transition or crossing over from one thing to another. As we continue on the journey of this life, we get to choose what we will lay down and what we will take up as we cross over the boundary marker between 2022 and 2023. Take some time to think about that. Take some time in the resting space between what was and what will be. What has been for you that needs to be honored and laid down? What will be for you that you now need to take up? The former may feel more sure to you than the latter, but spend some time with your thoughts.

Qoheleth (Hebrew for teacher) is his work Ecclesiastes tells us that there are seasons and times for all things. The cycles and seasons of nature confirm this. It is a natural law that things come and go. Do not try to resuscitate that which has had its season in the sun. We miss the new life that is being birthed when we do that. Wisdom tells us that there is a time for all things under heaven and wisdom tells us that there is a time for letting things go and taking things up. At the end of our mortal lives we will lay down this life and take up our eternal life. Before then we have many opportunities for laying down and taking up. The new year is just one socially contrived but still important marker in time where we can be intentional in our discernment of what to lay down and what to take up.

Rather than making a resolution for the new year, just rest for a moment or longer and think. Think about what needs to be laid down and no longer carried. Think about what needs to be taken up. Think about what will remain with you as your companion. You have God’s permission to let go of what has come to an end and to take up what is life giving.

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens:
a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace. - Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

Grace and peace,
Fr. Bill+

Keeping Watch

“Keep watch, dear Lord, with those who work, or watch, or weep this night . . .”

It now seems long ago that we were meeting online for night prayer during the first year of COVID-19. There was a prayer from the service of Compline that seemed to be the favorite of those who gathered, one asking that the good and merciful Lord keep watch over the world. Over those who work while others sleep; over those who are up on watch through the night watching over those who are not well, sitting beside a friend in need, praying through the night that someone would be delivered from their suffering; over those who are grieving. It is a prayer attributed to St Augustine of Hippo but it is one that is in various ways prayed by many in the course of human life because it expresses our hope when the literal and metaphorical night sets in and we turn to the one who holds all things in his hands. “Keep watch, dear Lord, during these dark times in our personal lives and in all our lives.”

Each of us can name our dark moments. Some of those are in the past but we remember them well and they have left a deep wound. Some of us are currently experiencing suffering and some are shouldering the suffering of others. “Keep watch, over them and us, Lord.”

The prayer continues, “Tend the sick, Lord Christ; give rest to the weary, bless the dying, soothe the suffering, pity the afflicted, shield the joyous.” Jesus was a man acquainted with human suffering. He wept at the death of a friend. Again and again we read that he sees and is moved by something deep within him that the Bible calls compassion. In this prayer, we call upon that eternal love to again behold and be compassionate toward the sick and the weary, the dying and the suffering, toward all who are experiencing the darkness that afflicts human life.

As we move into the season of Advent, we remember the first coming of the one whom we call upon to keep watch over us. We also remember that this is a season for our own watchfulness. Jesus tells us that he is coming again and that his second coming will be swift at an hour that no one knows but his father. His exhortation to his disciples is to be watchful. We watch in peace and in hope for the return of the one who watches over us. We watch in peace and in hope for the one who is full of compassion and mercy. We watch in the night with those who are not well and by the side of a friend whose parent, spouse, or child is not well. We watch and we pray because we believe in a Lord who watches and who hears and answers our prayers. We watch and we pray because we know this is how the Spirit of our Lord often incarnates into those dark hours.

So let us be watchful for that second coming and let us pray “Now and always, keep watch along with us, dear Lord, with those who work, or watch, or weep this night . . .”

Fr. Bill+

Community

I spoke on a recent Sunday about stopping along the way, of pausing to think again. We pause along the pathway of life and we think back, remembering blessings and the presence of God in our lives. When we pause we create a space for calling to mind blessings of the past and a space for becoming aware of blessings in the present. Jesus said to the leper who came back that his returning and giving thanks saved him. The pause and the remembering and giving thanks are a pathway to wholeness, or as Jesus said to salvation.

When Jesus saw that one came back and nine did not, he asked “Where are the others?” I think he is saying something about shared life and community, and not merely questioning their gratitude. These ten lepers had formed a community. They had suffered together and had supported each other. Yes, they were different. One was a Samaritan and the others were Jews, but they had been forced into a common bond by what life had dealt them. Suddenly all their Samaritan-Jew animosities did not matter. They had to lay those differences down to be the community that helped to keep each of them alive. They cried together and cried out together. They were spoken to as a group and sent out as a group. And when they went along the way they were made clean. They were healed. The whole bunch of them, the community.

I wonder what happened to their sense of community. How could the nine not ask the one “Where are you going?” How could the one not stop the nine and ask them to come back with him? Where are the nine, Jesus asks? Was he speaking to the one now former leper?

This story, like the Bible generally, makes me stop and think again. It makes me think about community and shared suffering, shared healing, and shared thanksgiving. It reminds me of coming to Good Shepherd nine years ago and joining this community for sharing in the suffering, the healing, and the thanksgiving. I sat in the pews my first Sunday while Fr. Tim McRee preached. Kathy Wright introduced herself to me as someone with a heart for hospitality and offered to get me a cup of coffee. She and so many others in this community are about community. Fr. Fred Lindstrom preached my second Sunday. It was Trinity Sunday and he referenced the Athanasian Creed. Heaven credit to you if you remember that. They both spoke about community: the earthly community welcoming its new priest and the heavenly community of God. My first Sunday preaching I talked about a seminary friend who was very much different from me but who showed me incredible grace. We were two very different people brought together along the way by the circumstances of seminary and we formed community that helped us and our families through both hard and good times. We needed each other, and we the community of the church need each other.

Where are the nine? I do appreciate that life is hard on aging bodies, that tragic losses happen, that there has been and remains a life threatening virus, and that there are many things we want for our children that set our minds on their earthly needs but might shortchange their spiritual needs. That life and life goals can separate us from the community of the church is not new, but neither is the reminder to think again. “Where are the nine? Where is the rest of our community?” And to those who are the nine, “When will you return?”

These are questions for us in our time. It matters that we gather in person and virtually. It matters that we are a community. It matters when you join us and when you do not.

Grace and peace,
Fr. Bill+

Choices

You didn’t choose me. I chose you. - John 15:16

Speaking on the last night of his mortal life, Jesus reminds his disciples that he chose them, It was usually wannabe disciples who first approached a rabbi seeking to become a student, but here Jesus says “You did not come to me. Rather, I came to you. I was the one who did the choosing.”

Jesus called them from the lakeside and from the boat. He called them from under the fig tree and from the tax collector’s booth. He called them from their homes, from their occupations, from their families, both men and women. The Gospels give few details but it is Jesus who is shown making the first move. This is in the enduring character of God. God chooses to create and God chooses to be in relation with creation, walking in the cool of the morning and talking with our ancient ancestors. And when things get sideways, God chooses to come among us as one of us to set things to rights. God chooses for us and then gives us the opportunity choose, to say yes or to say no.

When God chose to be with us in Jesus, Mary was asked if she would be the mother of God’s holy child. Mary was chosen, but Mary could also choose. To be chosen by God is grace and is an opportunity to choose. Mary can say yes or she can say no. Honestly, it is a very big and scary and dangerous and mysterious thing God is asking by choosing Mary. Yet, Mary chooses yes. She says yes to the incarnation, to God with us and us with God. Mary says yes to taking on the risks and sharing the costs of incarnating God in the world. God’s yes to us is reciprocated.

Then one evening, after Jesus had been preaching, teaching, and healing for some time, he was at dinner with his adopted family in Bethany. He had been saying some concerning words about his betrayal and his death, and one among them seemed to understand what others did not. During dinner, Mary of Bethany takes what may have been her marriage dowry and pours it out upon Jesus, anointing him with expensive perfume, the scent of which fills the house and overwhelms all else. Mary understands the mystery of his words. Mary understands that her beloved rabbi and friend has made a choice. Jesus chooses to give himself totally for their sake and for the healing of all things. Mary understands that he chooses to do this for her and Mary says yes. While others like Peter object to his choice, Mary says yes to his death and burial. Mary says yes to sharing in the costs of bringing God’s healing into the world. God’s yes to us is reciprocated.

And on that Easter morning, a third Mary says yes. His life has ended and hopes have died along with him. Mary Magdalene has gone back to the tomb. It is love, and grief, and a broken heart that have brought her there. It is in this place of death that she encounters the risen Christ. While embracing the one she loves, Jesus says to her to let go and to go tell the world about his victory over death. Mary Magdalene says yes to his resurrection. She say yes to the cost of letting go of her greatest love, the sure thing she embraces, for what the new resurrected life of Christ will bring to her and to the world. God’s yes to us is reciprocated.

For each of these Marys, something was given up and something for the world was gained. For each, there was a cost as there was a cost for God. God chooses and we are also given the chance to choose. In this season of stewardship, we are given an opportunity to say yes when we make choices about the use of our time, talent, and treasure.

God chooses us and says yes to us. What do we say?

Grace and peace,
Fr. Bill

Riches and Purity of Heart

“Today salvation has come to this house.” - Luke 10:9

We have been in the gospel of Luke in this year of our three year Sunday lectionary cycle. Luke, more so than the other evangelists, emphasizes Jesus’ words on power, wealth, and honor. Luke’s Jesus is the one whose mother Mary sings of the overthrow of the status quo, of God casting down the mighty from their thrones and lifting up the lowly, of filling the hungry with good things and sending the rich away empty. Luke’s gospel is the one that many have said shows God’s preferential option for the poor. These are descriptive statements of what is true of God’s Kingdom that may just lead us to question how we think about the world and maybe even how we live. We also recall that Luke addresses his gospel to one named Theophilus who is perhaps a very wealthy man. Luke’s Jesus is inviting Theophilus and us into a vision of God’s Kingdom.

Luke’s gospel is noted for providing stories that contrast how people handle wealth especially in light of the presence of God’s Kingdom. Not many Sundays ago, Luke’s Jesus told us a story of a rich man whose land produced a surprise surplus so large he did not have sufficient barns for storing this windfall. So the man, seemingly unaware that he has been blessed by an act of grace, does not respond with an act of thanksgiving or charity but builds larger barns. There is no evidence of gratitude or that his unmerited windfall might be used to help others. The man dies before he can either enjoy this gift or use it to show God’s love to others.

In another story Jesus encounters a rich ruler who is living a seemingly pious life. When he asks what he must do to inherit eternal life, Jesus mentions several of the commandments, to which the ruler says he has kept these since his youth. He sounds like a good community member. He is law abiding, studied in the scriptures, and serious about keeping covenant with God. Then Jesus challenges him to give all his money to the poor. The text says that the man became very sad because he was very wealthy.

It can be very hard to give away money in large amounts - amounts that are costly and sacrificial. Surprisingly, we then read about a man named Zacchaeus, a chief tax collector and wealthy. He is not a pious ruler who knows and lives by the commandments, but a traitor and enemy of his own people. Expect nothing good of this man, yet here we find that a notorious sinner sees and responds to the presence of God. Zacchaeus sees and questions and changes how he thinks about his life and his wealth. Responding to Jesus’ acceptance of him, Zacchaeus pledges to give away half his wealth to the poor and pay back four times what he has cheated from anyone. My guess is that he will soon be broke, yet at the same time he has gained everything. Jesus tells everyone with ears to hear, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham.” Welcome to the fold, Zacchaeus.

There is an irony that this man’s name is Zacchaeus. The name means “pure” or “innocent,” something he was not until he met his salvation in the Lord. When he did, he really did become Zacchaeus. He was rich in charity and pure in heart like the people of God should be. Zacchaeus, the little man up a tree, provides for us a model of reflecting on where we are and what we are doing with our time, talent and treasure, of seeing the better thing that Christ offers, and responding to the gift of salvation with a greater generosity.

As we move into our fall stewardship season, let us keep the story of Zacchaeus fresh in our thinking, and may salvation come again and again to this Good Shepherd house of worship and to all our homes.

Fr. Bill

Keeping Faith

“When you come to the land that the Lord will give you, as he has promised, you shall keep this observance. And when your children ask you, ‘What do you mean by this observance?’ you shall say, ‘It is the Passover sacrifice to the Lord, for he passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt, when he struck down the Egyptians but spared our houses.’” Exodus 12:25-27

Rituals are occasions for remembering and reaffirming, or with a good dose of humor and humility, of realizing that we have forgotten something that we would like to recall.

Several weeks ago I saw that one of our major retailers was putting out school backpacks. A sign of things soon to come. “What do you mean by this observance?” It seems far too early for summer vacation to be over for our young people. Two years of pandemic weirdness should merit them another month or two off in compensation. Working moms and dads may not find that helpful.

Most of us are far removed from those days of backto-school, but we likely remember some of the rituals we had. Rituals in preparation and rituals of the first day and weeks to begin the new year. Like shopping for school clothes and wrapping textbooks in brown paper bags. Like finding our bus stop and classroom, wearing name tags, and seeing friends we had not seen much in the summer. Like lamenting that our best friends are together in a different class. And then all the learning or being reminded of norms and what we should have learned the year before. There was the standard warmup exercise: “Please take out a sheet of paper and write an essay on ‘What I did on my summer vacation.’”

All of this is to say that we are familiar with the rituals of regathering and restarting, with checking where we are before moving forward, of rituals of remembering and reaffirming the basics. That these are tradition signifies that they are helpful, that they work.

This year as I see those backpacks, I wonder about our beloved faith community and how we are doing spiritually. I wonder about what traditions, what ritual observances, are necessary and helpful to us and to you. Is there something that we are doing that helps you? Is there something you miss that you would find helpful if we brought that back? And about the good news of the Gospel, I wonder about what remembering and reaffirming would be helpful. Can you tell the story of the Gospel in less than five minutes? Can you explain the hope in Christ that you have?

I wonder about what questions of faith are on our hearts and what reassurances are needed. What are your big faith questions? Where do you find your faith, your hope, your dreams most challenged and in need of spiritual support?

I welcome hearing from you. You need not “take out a sheet of paper” but drop me a note by email rectorgsec@brmemc.net or call me 828-389-3397 at church if there is something on your heart that you want to share.

Grace and peace,
Fr. Bill+

Catechism

The Prayer Book provides a catechism - a summary teaching - for use by clergy and laity alike. It is based upon the major points of faith identified in the Apostles’ creed. It is meant to provide a framework and an entry point into deeper discussion and reflection. It is not meant to cover all topics and every aspect of faith and Christian living.

Employing a brief question and answer format, the Prayer Book catechism can be a helpful tool for those new to the Episcopal church and for those who want to once again ponder the foundations of our faith after years of spiritual formation. Summertime is vacation time and there is vacation reading to do. Maybe add the catechism to your summer reading list.

Our catechism begins with a question of what we are. It asks, “What are we by nature?” and answers, “We are part of God’s creation, made in the image of God.” As I think about that question and the answer provided I am looking out a window of my home. I consider for a moment God’s creation and I see various shades of green, sunlight dancing off the water in the creek, a faded purple umbrella, and a pale blue sky with disorganized but gathering clouds. What I perceive is that God is an artist and God’s creation is a work of art. It reveals God as a God who appreciates beauty, goodness, and life.

As part of God’s creation we are made from that same material as the trees, the sky, and the water. and with that same imprint showing the character of God. That is to say, each of us is a work of art, a thing of beauty, a being of original goodness because that is what the Good Artist does. As a clergy mentor once said “God does not make junk.” Our human standards are not God’s standards and while we might divide things and people into more or less beautiful or good, God does not.

I remember a movie from some years ago with a scene where an African man was coming upon a shapely blond western woman who was using some bushes as cover while changing her clothes. His thoughts were not “how lovely” but “Yuck, she has no color and looks dead. And look how tall she is. She probably eats a lot.” Cultural standards vary. Those of God the artist do not.

In a culture like ours that promotes a narrow image of attractiveness and where that causes so much anxiety, it may be helpful to remember that all of us are a handmade work of art, beautiful to the God who made us, and beautiful to those who see with Godblessed eyes.

Next, our catechism asks, “What does it mean to be made in the image of God?” The answer centers on the gift of freedom given to us by God. To be created in the image of God is to be free to make choices: to love, to create, to reason, and to live in harmony with creation and with God. Freedom is a cherished value in our nation and many others. Coming up very soon on July 4 we will celebrate once again the freedom sought by our founders in the war for independence. On other occasions we remember and give thanks for those who sacrificed to maintain our freedom and to gain freedom for the unfree. We were created to be free to make choices and it is Christ-like for us to work to set others free to make choices.

I will leave this with you to reflect on the gift of choice. Freedom to choose comes with much responsibility, with blessing and with pitfalls. The freedom to choose is also the freedom to choose poorly. God bless your summer and your summer reading.

Again, consider the catechism.
Fr. Bill+

A Letter to the Parish

Dear Friends,

Those who recall the history of this parish, know that Good Shepherd was established when four local families attending Church of the Messiah in Murphy formed their own fellowship at the encouragement of their priest. They met in each other’s homes and shared welcome and hospitality along with prayer and worship. In each family only one spouse was an Episcopalian, meaning that from its beginning this parish has been ecclesiastically and theologically diverse. At its genesis moment, then, openness and welcome and hospitality were there as the foundational spirit that has established, built, and sustained this parish. It is no surprise to me that the people of this parish are so friendly toward each other and our many visitors. It is in agreement with our foundational spirit to do so. It is also no surprise that the last parish renovation focused on the parish hall and parish kitchen. They are wonderful assets for expressing the gifts of welcome and hospitality that are defining gifts of this community.

It is those same gifts of welcome and hospitality that fuel the outreach of this parish. All that is done to bring the love of God to those with bodily and spiritual needs are ways of extending the welcome and hospitality of God’s kingdom. The hungry are fed, the unsheltered are housed, those in danger are provided sanctuary, and more as signs of God’s welcome and hospitality.

My prayer for this parish is that we neither lose sight of that foundational spirit nor fail to practice that spirit. May we continue to be people who give thanks for and celebrate these gifts and continue to seek new ways of expressing them. To that end, your vestry and I are mindful of an opportunity we have for doing so. For some ten years we have carried a mortgage on God’s house that is now down to about eighty thousand dollars. Imagine those mortgage payments, about one thousand dollars a month, being used to show welcome and hospitality to those who are experiencing shelter insecurity: additional support for the only homeless shelter in within one hundred miles of our parish; additional support for sheltering women and children in crisis, and; additional support for the increased number of transient people passing through our area.

Your vestry and I have made our gifts to paying off the mortgage and becoming Debt Free in ‘23. We invite your gift, large and small, with gratitude for anything you can prayerfully and sacrificially contribute. We have designated June and July for this effort and will be hosting a special coffee hour on June 5 in celebration. Please join us for that and be sure to note on your gift that you are giving toward “mortgage payoff.” With your help and God willing, we will enter 2023 with only an ongoing debt of gratitude to God for all God continues to do for and through this parish.

Grace and peace be yours,
Fr. Bill+