A letter from the Stewardship Committee

“Blest be the Tie that binds
Our hearts in Christian love; 
The fellowship our spirit finds 
Is like to that above.

When we asunder part,
It gives us inward pain;
But we shall still be joined in heart
And hope to meet again.”
-- Church hymn

Amid the Pandemic, we’re still the Church. As Dean Penny wrote in her most recent E-Bulletin article, “the Cathedral building is closed but the Church is still very much in business.” We may not be able to gather on Sundays as a worshiping congregation these days, but our ministry of Christ goes on strong as ever in these grim, disruptive times. God’s hands are still our hands, and as Canon Jeff said recently, “God is doing a new thing.”


As a Cathedral congregation, our place of worship may be more central than in most churches, but like all churches, our unity and our ministry is grounded most of all in Christ’s redeeming invitation to be the Body of Christ in all times and places. At a time when it seemed we would have to give up community for Lent, our last online Sunday gathering brought an Easter-level attendance of over 500 worshipers! New members continue to meet online in preparation for being welcomed into full Episcopal communion by the Bishop and their new church family. A new meal-service ministry is being developed to extend Christ’s Table to the ill among us. And Circles of Love are being formed and will keep us connected in these uncertain and isolating times. Our world is threatened and hurting. But with God’s help, and through our ministry of Christ’s uniting and healing love, we are rising to the occasion.


Every one of us is invited and needed. Every kind of gift we bring will be vital to keeping our faith with our calling to be the light of Christ in the darkest of times. As we enter the season for our renewal of commitment to the ministry of St. Paul's, your Stewardship Committee and your clergy want to remind you that, by the power of the Holy Spirit moving in and through us these days, there is enough and more to accomplish God’s work. Will you be open more than ever to that? Will you continue, in new and creative ways, to be God’s hands in Christ’s mission of uniting and healing love? If so, we'll still be the Church, and the world will be the better for it.  


St. Paul's Stewardship Committee