Hello –
This is a full weekend at St. Paul’s. Saturday, we have the funeral of one of our matriarchs, Marion Cedarblade. I’ll send another message tomorrow about Marion. Sunday, we have two great things:
Newcomer Party. All who are new to St. Paul’s in the last several years are welcome to our house on Sunday afternoon from 4pm to 6pm. We live in San Anselmo just above the United Market on the Miracle Mile. There are many of you I hope will be there because we want to spend time with you and want you to connect with each other! Call or text me at 415 464 7108 for the exact address.
Blessing the Solar Panels. For the last few weeks the vast majority of the energy that fuels our campus has come from the renewable power of the sun. The solar panels we got are the highest quality so we expect that to be the case for at least the next forty years. Come celebrate this deep and powerful shift with us at and after the 10am service. Chloe, whose passion is teaching children to care for the environment will be teaching the children during the service. American Solar will be present after the service for the blessing of the panels, the installation of the tablet in Duncan Hall that will track our energy use, and will be available for Q and A.
Finally, a recent sermon of mine got a very strong personal response from many of you. The title of the sermon is How to Love the Difficult People. It is 8 minutes long and can be found here, on the front page of our website: http://stpaulssanrafael.org/sermons/how-to-love-the-difficult-people
In the sermon, I shared, three times, a quote I used to have before me at my prayer desk. I would reread frequently, particularly when I was set to pray for those with whom I have difficulty. The quote is from Richard Meux Benson, the 19th Century founder of the Anglican monastic community the Society of St. John the Evangelist (SSJE). I have been a member of the Fellowship of SSJE for twenty years. Here is the audio of the sermon on our website.
‘In praying for other we learn really and truly to love them. As we approach God on their behalf we carry the thought of them into the very being of eternal Love, and as we go into the being of him who is eternal Love, so we learn to love whatever we take with us there.’
May that quote help you heal, by grace, a broken relationship in your life.
See you Sunday.
Blessings,
Christopher
p: (415) 456-4842