We continue our journey through the month of November as we reflect upon Christian Stewardship, and reflect upon our Faith Community as a Parish for all seasons. Christian Stewardship is a way of living, living as Disciples of the Lord Jesus.
Thus Christian Stewardship is, simply put: Discipleship being faithful to Jesus and to one another. This weekend, at all our Eucharistic Celebrations, Michael and Lia Haubert and family will share their “witness talk” about their journey with the Lord Jesus.
They focus, especially, upon what attracted them to our Faith Community of St. Thomas More and motivates their active participation in our Parish. Our Stewardship Theme, “A Parish For All Seasons,” reminds us of our interconnectedness, the web of relationship and community that gives meaning to life through the various movements of our lives. Michael and Lia and family, thank you for being with us this weekend in this very special way!
I share with you a prayer that I would encourage you to pray as a household sometime this week:
Give thanks to the Lord, our God, who has created all life. God’s love is forever. Open our eyes to the joys and gifts to be learned and shared from all the seasons of life. Open our eyes that we may know your love at each moment of our lives. Thank you, God, for children who are curious, unafraid, and infectiously joyful, who are trusting receivers of God’s grace. We thank and praise you, God, for children. Thank you, Lord, for the young who demonstrate courage and hope as they begin new adventures; for their fresh ideas and their energies. We thank and praise you, God, for the young. For those in the middle years of life, we give thanks, dear Lord, for steady hands and hearts that guide the young and offer their experience to us all. We thanks and praise you, God, for those in the middle years of life. For those grown up and grown old, dear Lord, we celebrate your special gift. We give thanks for joys seen only through the eyes of those who are wise in their age and whose stories of life lived can enrich all our lives. We give thanks and praise, dear Lord, for those who have grown old. Guide our lives, Lord, so that in each stage of life we recognize and cherish the joys and sorrows, the strengths and weaknesses, and the special presence of your Spirit—not only in our own season of life, but in the lives of each other, young or old or in between. Dear God, we give you praise and thanksgiving for all the seasons of life, and we ask that you open our eyes that we may see the unique gift of each person’s life, created out of your love. Your love, God, enfolds us all! —Sarah Hipps, retired/educator/chaplain, Presbyterian Church, USA
— Fr. Mike