Annual Report Volume 18.1 January 2020

The Lord be praised.  I’m going to keep it short this year.  There are only a few things that need to be touched on as we’ve weathered the various storms and calms of this year.

I am proud to be your rector, priest, and pastor.  And as I tell everyone who will listen, we have the utmost beautiful expression of the Christian faith here in Brenham, not only in our liturgy but in our carrying out of duties to serve the Lord in the faces of the people around us.

The other written reports in the Annual Report Volume, reflect the good work of sharing our blessings with the people of Brenham and the Brazos Valley so please read those.

As for my report I will address two major challenges that came up this year.  Specifically, we have worked on long-term effects of water infiltration in the church that led to mold.  We also have organized a strategy to call and appoint a new Director of Music.

Regarding our mold remediation work we have finally completed the roof replacement needed to finalize bids for remediation.  At the writing of this letter we are waiting for the second bid to be evaluated by the Church Insurance Co. Vermont and to ascertain the overall cost and portions that St. Peter’s is responsible for.  

The nature and timing of the roof-work allowed us to continue worshipping in our nave through special services like Christmas and a wedding.  Once remediation work starts there is a high probability that we will be out of the nave for a period of time, but it is currently unclear how long that will be. That information has not been relayed to us by the remediation company.   I thank Charles Schubert and the folks that have helped him communicating with Remediation and Roofing contractors as well as Church Insurance of Vermont.  This is an ongoing work that most parishioners haven’t seen, but the end of the tunnel is approaching.

In September we said farewell to Linda Patterson who served St. Peter’s for over 26 years in ministry to children and music.  We honored her hard work on September 29^th while at the same time created a plan for the future of music at St. Peter’s. Thank you to Beth Appel and Amy Schramm who picked up the baton early in the gap in October to bridge us to our interim music director. 

We have formed a Music Search Team- to help articulate the musical values of St. Peter’s in a job description for prospective candidates.  This team will also help me identify and interview candidates for the roles of Interim and Permanent Director of Music.   The first phase of this process was accomplished by the grace of God with the arrival of Gavin Craig in October.  Gavin has been received very well by our choir and staff.  He is a pleasure and blessing to minister alongside.  Gavin and St. Peter’s are committed to each other during this interim period and he is eligible to apply for the permanent position.

I express my thank you and appreciation to the Search Team Chaired by Dr. Wendy Bergin, Lloyd Behm, Beth Appel, Roger Ross, Amy Schramm, and Chris Hilton.

Our growing edges that need focus.

I am over the top proud of your response in the October stewardship drive.  Your faithful commitments and increase in offering is what will permit the vestry to balance the budget and maintain good operating accounts for the campus, staff, and program ministry.

Do your best to keep those commitments first, before hobbies, before vacations, your commitment to St. Peter’s should be first.  It’s not that God needs money.  It’s that God calls us to be faithful as he is faithful.

For my part you have the commitment of my household.  Mine and Kate’s full tithe comes from our combined salaries and my housing allowance and we freely offer it for the operations of St. Peter’s with no stings attached.  Our $10,800 tithe is our obligation and faithful response to God’s care for us and is our commitment to you, because it is by your faithfulness that we are even able to be here. And we thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

Regarding this year’s stewardship, we are going to build a team that will in a timely fashion faithfully discuss a theme, timeline, and implementation for October’s drive.  I want four people on that team.  (You want to be on that team)

Church Security- There has been an increase in public violence against houses of worship which has created anxiety among many people  It is my responsibility to teach and assure you that this world is a temporary place for each of us, and our hope for eternal life and security rests in God alone.  I confess to you that I have no fear in violence to myself but, at the same time, we have a duty to keep safe, to the best of our power, the sanctity of our fellowship, worship, and lives of those entrusted to our care.  As such there is renewed fervor to create a written policy and plan of action for surveying and monitoring safety in our buildings during worship.  I intend to form a steering committee to evaluate diocesan policies and local practices that will provide a written policy and procedure for St. Peter’s.  While no open space is perfectly safe from violence there are things we can and will do to increase safety in our gatherings.

Finally, we have been presented with an opportunity to host a large organization for mom’s with young children on a bimonthly basis.  Moms Inc. of Brenham has asked if St. Peter’s could take up support for their organization on two Thursdays per month from 9-11am.  Moms enjoy fellowship and learning programs while their children are cared for in the classrooms and nursery areas of our church.  We intend to provide chapel services for the children and other discipling program as we are able.  Of course this will not take place until we get a clean bill of health from our remediation company.

Transitions and thank you.

In January Kerry Hughes step away from ministry to help care for her family.  She faithfully passed care of our youth and children to Pam Knebel.  Thank you both.  Pam is doing a good job of planning activities, we hope that some of our fellowship outing will encourage youth gather more frequently.

Thank you to Cathy Stuckert for your transitional leadership in passing the torch to Cornelia Estey as Lector/LEM scheduler.  It’s been a very smooth transition and I’m thankful to both of you for that.

Ongoing appreciation and affections for Mary Mabry and all the altar guild.  Your reward is great in heaven, but for now you’ll have to suffice with a thank you from me.

To Margaret and Peter Broadbent and all of you on the bereavement hospitality (that whole group is phenomenal.  Thank you to the faithful service of the Sunday hospitality teams, also to Doug Peck and Sunday Breakfast team. Thank you to the outreach committee for your labor. You’re incredible.

To the Daughters of King, if it weren’t for your prayers I would be drowning. Thank you.

Picking Favorites Volume 19.1 February 2020

On Sundays we have been reading about Paul, Apollos, and Cephas in the first letter to the Corinthians.  It seems that the church in Corinth was divided by their affinities for the different leaders.  Perhaps some liked Apollos' pastoral nature, Cephas' work ethic or Paul's fervor and certitude.  Who knows why some were liked over others?

But the letter from Paul puts each leader in perspective.  One plants, another waters, and God provides the growth. Paul's response is to redirect the devotions toward leaders back to Jesus.  He asks if anyone was baptized in his (Paul's) or Apollos' name, or if he himself was crucified?  No! It is Christ who performs the actions of salvation therefore it is to Christ we should direct our loyalties.

At this same time I am reading through Genesis in Morning Prayer.  The stories of Jacob, Leah and Rachel are very troubling.  Jacob loves Rachel, but has been tricked into marrying her older sister Leah.  Leah is able to bear him many sons while the favored, Rachel is barren.

With each new child Leah prays that, "finally my husband will honor/love me."  At the same time, Rachel has the affections of Jacob but cannot bear children.  In a society where progeny was critical to life this is full of heartache for both women. Jacob picked his favorite but neither of his wives were content.

Eventually God is moved to have mercy on Rachel and she will bear children for Jacob.  And ironically despite Jacob's desires and favoritism of Rachel it is Leah who's lineage, through her son Judah, will bear Jesus' genealogy recorded in Matthew's gospel.

There is the tendency among God's people to pick sides.  It happens in the church as well.  We like one staff member over another, we like this priest, or we liked the previous priest better.  Or! We can't wait for the next priest.

Don't do that!  What I am inspired by in these lessons is that we are all here to serve Jesus Christ.  We are all brothers and sisters of the same Lord.  We have different ways of serving.  There are some administrators that do things differently than others,  there are musicians that do things differently than others, there are priests and Sunday school teachers that do things differently than others.  But we all serve the same Jesus. Praise the Lord!