GOD HAS CALLED US

Dear Friends in Christ:

I have been thinking a lot about God's call during the past few months. Certainly my call to serve as the Fourteenth Rector of the Parish played a part in setting me to thinking about God's call. But there is also the Parish's ongoing relationship with Frieda Webb, now a Candidate for ordination to the priesthood. And there was the Vestry's receiving and approving the report of a committee that had been meeting with Victoria Kearns to help her discern whether or not she is being called to ordained ministry. (They believe she is.) And there is the request from Tom Broad that I appoint a committee to help him to discern whether or not he is being called to ordained ministry.

But it is not really the discernment of calls to ordained ministry that has been the focus of my thinking and my praying these past few months. What has been at the center of my prayers has been God's call to all of us in this Parish to be in ministry together. As I look back over the past ten years or so of the Parish's history, I see a number of the ways in which we have responded to God's call:

• The development of the Interfaith Hospitality Network's ministry to homeless families.  
• Education for Ministry, which has helped to equip our parishioners and members of other congregations for work in ministry.  
• Our support of Mary Sherwood's missionary work in Madagascar.  
• Our generous support of Episcopal Community Services.  
• Our food pantry and our support of the FISH program.  
• The Vestry's regular outreach grants to support work in East Aurora, in Western New York and throughout the world.  
• The weekly celebration of the Holy Eucharist at The Waters.  
• The use of the building by many community groups.  
• The Parish's ongoing educational programs for all ages.  
• The week-by-week worship of God in our offering of the Daily Office and the Holy Eucharist.

All of these responses to God's call didn't just happen. They happened because members of the Parish were listening and were willing to say "Yes" when they heard God calling.

God is still calling. There are undoubtedly new areas of ministry that God wants to open up for us, as well as continuing ministries that God wants to see strengthened. I invite you to share with me in the work of listening, of discerning and responding to God's call to us.

Your brother and priest,

Daniel+