One thing The Church does really well is mark transitions and new beginnings. Baptisms, weddings, Confirmations, feast days, holy days, holidays -- we bring them all to the powerful collective prayer of our Eucharists, immerse them in our best songs, and we even dress up for many of them. And then of course, there’s the party that follows.
This year we’ll mark the start of our 2024-2025 program year with just such a celebration with Homecoming Sunday on Sept. 8, starting with the 10 a.m. service. While it has a relatively new name, we do something like this every year. We’ve called it Rally Day in the past. Last year, we expanded it to Community Rally Day and invited our neighbors and outreach partners.
This year we’re taking a different approach. Parishioner Dave Kipphut has led an effort to make our kick-off Sunday an opportunity to invite St. Peter’s “alumni” -- family and friends who have attended in the past -- to return for a morning of worship and fellowship. We’ve sent out invitations with the hope of meeting up with some old friends whom we haven’t seen for a while.
If you have some friends or family members that fit this description, feel free to extend a personal invitation.
Jazz Sanctuary will offer their unique brand of liturgical music. We’ll have a special blessing for parish ministries and their leaders. Fellowship will feature a delicious spread, from sandwiches to hot dogs, along with an array of potluck desserts (use this link to tell us if you plan to bring something.) And our Souper Sunday soup makers will have a selection of homemade soups on hand to take home (free-will donations appreciated). It promises to be a great start to a really exciting year.
Many of our programs officially begin on Sunday, Sept. 15. Godly Play, led by Laurel Mosteller, returns for young children during the 10 a.m. service. I will lead our first Sunday forum of the program year with a discussion on discerning discipleship after liturgy. Our youth and teens will have their first Second Sunday gathering that evening from 6 to 8.
Then we’re off and running with another year of things like Come 4th Sundays, Listening Circles, LIFT book discussions, and service opportunities as well as the continuation of our year-round Lunch Club gatherings, Wednesday Eucharists and all the stuff that happens behind the scenes.
And we have some brand new things in development as well:
We’ll host “Singing the African American Spirituals with Integrity,” Oct. 5 from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m.– an afternoon of spirited singing, prayer and learning for the whole diocese.
Rooted Tree is collaborating with St. Peter’s to develop workshops on understanding and supporting LGBTQ+ identities for both adults and youth later this fall.
The Souls Shot organization will bring sacred portraits of local people who have died from Gun Violence to our sanctuary in January.
“I want St. Peter’s to be really visible in our community this year,” I told Rector’s Warden Dave Mosteller recently.
“I like the word presence,” he said. “I like the idea of people feeling our presence, knowing we’re there.”
I think Dave’s right. If we’re doing our job as church right, we’re not just something noticeable from a distance, but something dependable and discernable and close. That’s a good definition of discipleship, making Christ present to people. We’ll talk more about that at the forum on Sept. 15.
Meanwhile, spread the word about Homecoming. Share the newsletter with those who’d like to learn more about us. And buckle up. It’s going to be a great year!
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