January Rector’s Letter

Dear Parish Family,   

Thank you for the Christmas Gifts
On behalf of Fr. Rogers, Fr. Province, Fr. Crary, and Fr. Wilson, thank you for the very generous Christmas gifts! We are so blessed to serve the Lord at St. Laurence and are very grateful for these gifts. Also, I wanted to pass on greetings from Fr. Young, who is enjoying his time as the Interim Rector at Christ Church, Waco and is looking forward to returning to St. Laurence probably in the 4th quarter of this year. All of us are very grateful for your support and generosity.

Welcome Michele Mitchell!
I am so excited that Michele Mitchell has accepted the position of Parish Events Coordinator! Her first day in the Parish office was yesterday and I am really looking forward to seeing how she will help shape our Parish’s life in the months and years ahead. Michele will be coordinating our Parish events and will take on a number of administrative tasks in the office. Michele and her family have been members of St. Laurence for many years and Michele has served the Parish in many volunteer capacities during that time. Please encourage her and when she asks you to serve at one of our events, say yes!

Lots of Generosity
Thanks be to God, we finished 2022 with lots of very generous giving from the Parish family. In 2022, we had the largest number of donations that we’ve ever had in our history. Your generosity continues the work of Jesus in the world and it changes lives. Thank you!

The Annual Parish Meeting
On Sunday evening February 5, we will have the Annual Parish Meeting. I am planning on announcing and discussing several significant developments in our Parish life at the meeting so please make plans to attend. While it is my preference that everyone attend in person, we are offering a zoom option because we all can’t comfortably fit into our Parish hall. You will be able to vote for new vestry members and convention delegates by Zoom. So whether in-person or on zoom, please make your calendar to be part of this meeting. 

Live-Streaming Ended
As I announced in Church a few weeks ago, we made the decision in December to stop live-streaming the Sunday 8:30 service. I wanted to take a second to explain that decision. 
While many churches invested heavily in their live-streaming equipment when COVID hit, I made the decision very early on not to go down that road. I wanted us to offer what we needed to offer during COVID, knowing that at some point we would no longer be offering the live-stream. Putting media equipment into a sacred space can easily change the way that a church’s worship is oriented. As I said in my homily on the Feast of the Epiphany, worship is not a performance for the congregation. It is a sacred work that all of us undertake together for God. We did what we needed to do to stay connected to many of our members during the pandemic and now that it's behind us, we need all of our members here week by week to be the healthy Parish that we want to be. 

St. Laurence thrives on strong, Godly connections and it’s extremely difficult to have those without regular in-person contact. Being here to share our God-given talents and gifts with our brothers and sisters in Christ is really important. Being here to encourage and support and love others is really important. Being here in person allows us to receive the Sacraments, something we can’t do when watching from home. St. Laurence is a Church of both Word and Sacrament and we believe that God meets us, and offers us His grace, through both. Being here in person allows us to experience the fullness of grace that God wants to give us week by week. Having received God’s grace, the Christian is to love and serve in the Church and in the world in the unique way that only we can. 

As I begin my thirteenth year as Rector, I want to again thank you all for the privilege of serving the Lord here.

GO COWBOYS! And God bless you all,
Fr. John