But here are a few things from the Rector's Address:
Opening Prayer:
O God, make the door of this parish wide enough to receive all who need human love and fellowship, narrow enough to shut out all envy, pride and strife. Make its threshold smooth enough to be no stumbling block to children, nor to straying feet, but rugged and strong enough to turn back the tempter's power. God, make the door of this parish the gateway to your eternal kingdom. Amen. (adapted from a prayer by Thomas Ken, 1637 – 1711)
Opening Theme Music:
Making your way in the world today takes everything you've got.
Taking a break from all your worries, sure would help a lot.
Wouldn't you like to get away?
Sometimes you want to go
Where everybody knows your name,
and they're always glad you came.
You wanna be where you can see, our troubles are all the same
You wanna be where everybody knows your name.
You wanna go where people know, people are all the same,
You wanna go where everybody knows your name.
("Where Everybody Knows Your Name" by Gary Portnoy and Judy Hart Angelo)
and two quotes from the address:
So why would I choose to live out my faith here at St. Peter’s? Because this is where I believe I can best give myself to others and because, most simply, this is where I believe I am being personally invited to live out my baptismal covenant. In the final analysis, I believe that we do not choose the parish so much as discern whether it is a place we can find the intimacy we are called to and seek. By the sacramental reality of baptism, we are each called to holiness, to intimacy with God, and therefore we each need a special place in our lives where we can look after that relationship. This is mine. What is yours? [original by Jean Chivley, OSC]
“Mission is about how we live every day of the week. When we were baptized, we became missionaries -- servants of the kingdom, [builders of God's dream. When we dream that dream and do something about it, when we feed the hungry or clothe the naked or help a child resolve a schoolyard spat, we're being invited to the feast. Jesus says, "Come and share the banquet with my brothers and sisters, with my friends, with my poor and hungry and those on the margins." In serving them we are invited to sit down at the feast and meet Jesus, the master who serves, the king who puts on an apron and waits tables. Suddenly we discover that the guests of honor are those poor and hungry, but also those who serve them. This waiter-king has broken down all dividing walls. Everyone, absolutely everyone, is invited to the feast -- all that's needed is to know hunger -- your own and someone else's.]”
“Remember what it is to be missionaries and dreamers of God's dream. Be alert, be ready, for the opportunities are all around us! There is Jesus, and here, and out there! Ho, you that hunger and thirst, turn in here, dream God's dream, join the feast at Jesus' table, keep inviting the guests. Ho, you that hunger and thirst, turn in here. We're going to keep on building this table bigger and bigger so that all the guests can join the feast.” (Presiding Bishop, Katherine Jefferts Schori, from A Wing and a Prayer)
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