From the desk of the Rector
I’d like to share two things with you that have been on my heart over this summer. The first is regarding more personal things over the summer and the second is regarding you and our parish family.
This past summer I received some wonderful news. My wife is pregnant. This news filled me with joy and delight! Carolyn is doing well and both her and our baby are healthy. This summer we had the privilege to head out to both Calgary and to Sarnia to see family and friends. It has been two years since we have seen some of them due to COVID restrictions so it was a wonderful experience and a relief to see them in person… and of course to share our news.
Being pregnant with our first child is truly a joy yet as so many of you have already experienced it also comes with an increased sense of concern for that child. What are we leaving them? What world are we bringing them into? This thought brings be to my point regarding you and our parish family.
As I look forward into the future, I know with certainty the only hope for this world is Christ and his Church. The gospel message, the life of Jesus himself, is the only way of living that brings life to this world. Every other religion, philosophy and world view takes from this world and the people around us. The way of Christ gives. And through the Church embodying Christ we are giving to the world, and God is giving to the world through us. This point is incredibly important because as a Christian if we are always giving to the world, we will run dry if we are not also receiving. We as Christians must be open to receive from God directly though the Holy Spirit, but also through his conduit, the Church. You need Christian community. Hanging around only non-Christians is spiritually like hanging around a sponge. The world will just soak up the good from you… giving very little back. We need a Christian family. It is what God made us for.
Psalm 95 calls us.
Come, let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker! For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. O that today you would listen to his voice!
Online worship has been a wonderful time of blessing through a season of few alternatives. Yet a time is coming when we will be able to gather together to worship in community – to commune in unity with God and one another. This September 12 we are reopening our doors. I hope you will consider coming to join us in community, to draw from us and us from you, to build up God’s Church and be a conduit of God’s grace into this world.
- If you are interested in joining us for worship on September 12 or into the future, we ask that you reserve a seat so that we can observe safety protocols and give all people the best chance science has told us we can give people of staying healthy.
Yours In Christ,
Rev. David Matthews