A Message from our Rector

Anne C. Fowler

Build houses and live in them… multiply there, and do not decrease.

Jeremiah 29:3

Out of curiosity, I checked back recently in the parish register where I record baptisms, confirmations, marriages and funerals. In the first three years I served here - 1992-1995, I performed 5 baptisms. In the last three years, we've had 20! Indeed we are multiplying, and not decreasing.

Baptisms are especially joyful and meaningful occasions for us here at St John's. When we welcome a new Christian into the Body of Christ through the sacrament of baptism, we are welcoming her or him into a spiritual journey, a journey that will last a lifetime and in which we are all participants. Joining a Christian community means that we do not undertake our spiritual journeys in isolation or through intellectual activity alone. We do it in company.

Many of us who find our way to St. John's as adults have found ourselves marginalized, hurt, or rejected by another faith tradition. We enter in fear and trembling, wondering if we will re-experience those wounds. Or we have been on solitary spiritual quests, wondering if others share our questions, wondering if we dare express our doubts aloud among other church-goers.

Our community witnesses to God's capacity, through love and mercy, to overcome alienation, disillusionment, and the pain we humans inflict on one another. Here we find spiritual companionship, consolation and inspiration. Here we find our spirits renewed and go forth into the world to serve others and to seek justice.

We'd love to have you join us!

Faithfully,

Anne