I am writing this on my first anniversary with you all at St. Paul’s. I have to say that it has been an amazing, wonderful, spirit-filled year, and I am so thankful for the opportunity to serve with such a great community of people. I’m very excited for the year to come; I’ve got a bunch of things planned for both youth and adults in our parish. This communicant includes a calendar of Youth events through June (you can also get them from me by e-mail or asking me in person for one). The general pattern is: one Sunday meeting for high school youth a month, one Sunday movie night for middle school youth a month, and a joint event each month. This changes a little bit from time to time and meeting times change as well, but just pay attention to this schedule and you’ll be fine (also pay attention to the Communicant each month, email and announcements during church for any changes). In addition both the Middle School Youth and the High School Youth will continue to meet on Wednesday nights from 5:30-7:00 for evening prayer, dinner and time to just relax and hang out with each other. If there are any adults who feel called to help with any of these events, please be in touch and we can discuss your involvement with our youth group; chaperones are always welcome.

Beginning Sunday, September 18 through Sunday, November 20, I will be offering a bible study looking at St. Paul’s Letter to the Romans from 8:30-9:00, meeting in either the library in the office wing of the church or the Guild Room in the parish hall depending on how many people attend (I challenge you all to make this have to meet in the Guild Room!). If you are interested in participating, you can just show up having read at least the first chapter of this letter, or be in touch with me beforehand for more information. Martin Luther wrote, “This letter is truly the most important piece in the New testament. It is purest Gospel… The more one deals with it the more precious it becomes and the better it tastes.” He had a pretty good head on his shoulders, so I encourage you all to come out and see exactly what he meant.

Also starting in September, on Thursdays I will be at the Starbucks in North Kingstown Crossings on Ten Rod Road from two to four in the afternoon. This time will be for anyone to just drop by and chat about anything going on, ask questions you might have about our faith or anything else you might want. So please, stop by, grab a drink and spend a little time with me sometime this upcoming fall. I plan on being there every Wednesday; any planned absences will be announced in the Communicant and during the Eucharist, but as we all know sometimes things come up and plans don’t work out, so if it does happen that you show up and I’m not there, I apologize, and urge you to try again the next week.

Finally, on Sunday, September 25th after the 9:30 service in the Parish Hall I will be giving a presentation on my trip to Israel this past March. I invite you all to come join me and hear about my experience in the Holy Land. Again, I am very excited about this year to come and can’t wait to see what’s in store for us!