Grant us, Lord, not to be anxious about earthly things, but to love things heavenly; and even now, while we are placed among things that are passing away, to hold fast to those that shall endure; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. AMEN

Dear Friends,

The month of September we will celebrate many journeys. In our worship we will recall the deliverance of the people of Israel from their servitude in Egypt, through the Red Sea, to their life in the promised land. Concurrent with the retelling of the story, some of us will make the journey from Old Narragansett Church where we have been camping out for the summer and, by way of the Parish Day on September 11th in the Parish Hall, and be once again under the same roof with those who endured the summer heat at St. Paul’s (our friends who worship on Sundays at 7:30) on September 18th.

Other journeys begin or continue in September: Sunday School registration, together with enrolling parishioners in ministry teams, on September 11th sets the stage for our individual and collective journeys of faith and service. The Search for the next Rector of St. Paul’s moves forward with regular meetings of the Search Committee beginning on September 7th under the leadership of Junior Warden Kathy Bellows and our Search Consultant (and Deacon-to-the-Interim) Jan Grinnell.

All the journeys of a community of faith have to do with our increasing ability to discover and treasure those things that shall endure as distinct from that which will pass away. The prayer that leads this column—to be offered as the Collect in our worship on September 18—invites us to be discerning in this way. In our daily lives and in the midst of our activities we need wisdom to “see” those things that occupy our attention and energies and to wonder about their relative importance. By God’s grace this perspective, this discerning eye, will cause us naturally and easily to occupy ourselves more fully with that which will endure, that which we will carry to the “promised land”. The short distilled list is love, joy, and peace—these will endure. These we can embody forever.

May all our journeys this September be graced by the presence of the Holy Spirit who leads us into all truth.

Peace.
David+, Interim Rector