August Rector’s Letter
Dear Parish Family,
Pray for Bishop Iker
Please pray for Bishop Jack Iker who went into the hospital a few weeks ago only to discover that his cancer had returned. He was at UT Southwestern receiving cancer treatments and has now gone home to be on hospice. His health has deteriorated rapidly and we are asking for prayers. Please join me in praying the prayer below from the 2019 Book of Common Prayer:
O Father of mercies and God of all comfort, our only help in time of need; We fly to you for aid on behalf of your servant, Bishop Jack Iker, lying in great weakness of body. Look graciously upon him, O Lord; that as he outwardly fades away, you would strengthen him inwardly with your grace and Holy Spirit. Give him true repentance for all the errors of his life, and steadfast faith in your Son Jesus; that his sins may be done away by your mercy, and his pardon sealed in heaven; through your Son Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Amen.
Big Sunday Coming Up
On Sun, August 11 at 9:50am, we will break ground for our expansion! Bishop Reed and Southlake Mayor Shawn McCaskill will join us as we break ground for this ceremony where FUN FACT— we have the ceremonial shovel that has been used at 2 previous St. Laurence groundbreakings: on Nov. 29, 1987 for the groundbreaking of our current Church and May 7, 1997 for the groundbreaking of the Parish Hall. Special thanks goes to longtime St. Laurence member Jerome Weilmuenster for hanging on to the shovel all of these years! Sun, August 11 is St. Laurence Day and we will be giving thanks to God for 73 years of ministry and witness.
Expansion Update Meeting Rescheduled
We had originally planned to have an All Parish Meeting about our expansion on Aug. 18 but have now found that we need a little more time to finalize all of the details about the expansion that we want to present to you. The Expansion Committee, Vestry, and Campaign Chairs all met last night and while the ball is moving down the field, we’re not yet at the end zone. We’ve interviewed a number of General Contractors over the last few weeks and things are taking shape. We're hoping to have a construction timeline and a more complete financial plan to present to you when we meet so we have decided to move the meeting back a few weeks to Sun, Sept. 8. We hope you can join us then.
Camp Crucis Sunday
Camp Crucis Sunday will be Sunday, August 18 all across the Diocese of Fort Worth. As you know, Camp Crucis is a big part of the spiritual life of our youth. l grew up going there, it's where I met my wife Liz, and my experiences there in many ways led me to become a priest. Camp just finished for the summer and this year we had more youth attend than ever before. Everyone who’s been to Camp Crucis is asked to wear a Camp t-shirt to Church that day. Between the Services, we'll hear from some of our young people about what Camp Crucis has meant to them and the ways that God has blessed their lives by what happens out there. We’ll also hear from this summer’s Camp Director, Marcus Green, one of our own members, along with this wife Jessica. They’ve been out there all summer and seen God working in amazing ways and they want to share with us some of what they’ve seen and heard.
Guests This Sunday
This Sunday we are blessed to welcome Bishop Fanuel Magangani from Malawi and our seminarian Jacob Hootman. Bishop Fanuel is visiting our diocese for a few weeks and will join me at the Altar on Sunday. He’ll also be around between the services to catch up with his many St. Laurence friends. Jacob will be giving his first sermon at St. Laurence. Jacob just finished his second year at Nashotah House Seminary and has one more year to go before he graduates. Please give them both a warm welcome!
I hope you're enjoying your last few weeks of summer before school starts.
Many blessings,
Fr. John Jordan