Home - St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, Mountain Home

After my ordination, I find it difficult to think about the coming month. Yet, a quick look at the calendar and a couple of conversations with our members shocked me back to reality. This is the time of year that the vestry begins planning the annual stewardship drive and developing its budget for the coming year. And, although All Saints Day will be celebrated November 1st, it will take place before the next newsletter.

As Jane Darr, chair of this year's stewardship drive, and I talked about stewardship and looked at the calendar, it occurred to me that my ordination, stewardship, and All Saints Day share one thing in common. All three reflect the collective nature of the church. On All Saints Day we remember all the people who lived and died before us, people who serve as models for Christian life and worship. Individually, we remember those people who, even after their deaths, influence our lives.

The church exists today because the life giving message of Jesus Christ has been carried from generation to generation. Our relationship with Christ is intensely personal, but the love and support of the church strengthen our love of God and help us grow as Christians. For many of us, Christ first revealed himself through people in our lives - a grandparent, a parent, a friend, or even a stranger. Who influenced your life and helped you understand what it feels like to be a child of God? One such person for me was Dr. Leech, a member of our church in Rogers. When I was a young boy, Dr. Leech took an interest in me. After church, he and his wife would take me to lunch, and then he would show me his rock collection before taking me home. We did not talk about faith and religion, but he made me feel loved and important. As a family we always had pets, but Dr. Leech gave me my very own cat. I'm not sure my parents were all that happy to add yet another pet into a house full of children - but I was a child accustomed to receiving hand-me-downs. To get my very own pet was nothing short of having the heavens open up and seeing a dove descend. When I think of growing up in the church, I think of Dr. Leech and the love I felt.

Dr. Leech had been dead for many years and I hadn't set foot in church for several years when I reached a point in my life that I knew I needed something more. I decided to return to church because I instinctively knew I needed the love I felt as a boy at church. Now I know that that it was because of people like Dr. Leech that I began down the path that led me here. The Saints we will remember on All Saints Days are the people who gave of themselves so that we might experience God's love for ourselves.

What we give to the church makes a difference today, tomorrow, and in the decades to come. Our gifts should not be made to St. Andrew's, but to Christ who is at work in our lives and who will touch the hearts of future generations. We should not give to keep the doors open, though that is also important. We should give to the church to help bring about God' kingdom here on earth. Giving is not just monetary, it is an expression of love that comes in all forms - gifts of service as well as financial support.

A Note Regarding My Ordination
"The sacraments are an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace," (The Book of Common Prayer, page 857). It is not what we do, but what Christ does working in us to make the acts we perform in our liturgy sacramental. The spiritual grace I received in my ordination began before hands were laid on me at the service. Since my arrival here, Christ has been working in this community transforming me into your priest. Just as you represent Christ to the world, you have represented Christ to me. You have loved and accepted me into this community of believers and you have helped me understand my call to serve Christ in this church.
Words can never adequately express the enormity of God's love for us, nor can they express my gratitude to the people of St. Andrew's and others who opened my heart to the spiritual grace that has brought me here. I am humbled by the love and support you have given Cathy and me. For your gifts and affection, I thank you.