St. Albans Church Annual Vestry Meeting, March 1st, 2015
A Message from the Rector
Dear Friends,
It’s time to make connections!
I’m very pleased that our Parish Council has decided to make “Connections” our ministry theme for 2015. All of us, one way or another, know how important it is to be connected. It is especially important for this community of St. Albans Church in 2015. Last year, in 2014, we had 89 new people become part of our community. That trend has continued every Sunday so far in 2015. To all those who have joined us in the past year, welcome. There are now over 200 people who make St. Albans their home in one way or another. That is a wonderful thing, especially for a congregation now in its fourth year.
But it is also a challenge. Because if we are to be all members of one body, then like the various parts in the body, we need to be connected. There is the obvious challenge of simply remembering names and finding opportunities to greet each other on a Sunday. But there is also the deeper challenge of really getting to know one another, of discovering each other’s gifts and finding ways to allow these to be expressed in our community, and of being attentive to each other’s needs and learning how to care for one another. In all of this I think we are doing well, but we must intentionally seek ways of doing better, for each other’s sake, and for the sake of our mission to be light and salt in the world.
Connection is at the heart of who we are as followers of Jesus. When asked which law was the greatest, Jesus responded by saying that we are to love God and to love our neighbour as ourself. This has been called the great commandment; it could equally be called the great connection.