The afternoon was particularly humid and stuffy when I met with someone who wanted to discuss baptism for her child.

A year or so previous to this, in a totally unrelated meeting, a young woman had come to talk with me about financial assistance. As you probably already know, a certain percent of parishioners’ pledges is given to the Rector’s Discretionary Fund, and I use it, in part, to help people in urgent need. During that conversation, the young woman in question told me her story. She told me that since she was an “unwed mother” her childhood church refused to baptize her child “because he didn’t have a father” even though she followed her Church’s teachings by refusing to terminate the pregnancy.

The woman I met with on that humid summer’s day was in a similar situation and felt the same way. She didn’t feel free to approach her childhood church about baptizing her child because she felt that “she’d be judged.” She hastened to add that she’d come to know St. Paul’s well enough to believe that it’s a group of people who accept you regardless of your mistakes. I replied that I had honestly found the people of St. Paul’s to be ones who do not hold the personal details of people’s lives against them, but accept each person as is. That’s been my impression and my experience of the St. Paul’s community, and it reflects the way Jesus treated people as the gospels tell us.

Our conversation continued as I went over the baptism service with her, sentence by sentence. “Will you be responsible for seeing that the child you present is brought up in the Christian faith and life?” “Will you by your prayers and witness help this child to grow into the full stature of Christ?” As I went over each of these questions, under the circumstances, it struck me that this is the purpose of the Church and certainly of St. Paul’s Church. Our purpose is to bring people along in the Christian faith and life so that, by our prayers and witness, we’ll all keep growing to become more Christ-like.

That’s what St. Paul’s is all about. We exist to be a loving community of Christian people who accept each person as is. Everything we do together – our fellowship activities and events, our classes and discussion or prayer groups, our outreach programs to help out in the community, our Sunday School and youth programs, our worship, music, and encouragement of every member’s participation in some form of active ministry and personal stewardship, all these things have their purpose in helping to bring each and every one of us along in the Christian faith and life toward the goal of becoming more like Jesus. In the process, little by little, with God’s help we can make a positive difference so as to make the world a bit more the way God wants it to be.

So, then, as you read through the contents of this parish newsletter, keep attuned – keep your eye peeled – for opportunities in which you might participate that will help you grow spiritually or in which you’ll be able to help others grow, too.

Affectionately in Christ

Phil +