A Caring Community for All

There is nothing so precious as God’s will. 

My experience of this community is that when it comes to any issue we deal with, nothing is more important than what we think (and hope) God is calling us to.

Sure, many of us have our preferences about how we should be as a community, what we should sing and how we should pray. But when it come right down to it, finding ways to carry God’s mission into the world triumphs over everything else.

As we approach our 250th anniversary we looked for suggestions about a tag-line or motto and the winning suggestion is, “A Caring Community for All.”

There were lots of really good suggestions and this is not the one that I put forward, but I like it. The more I think about it, the more I like it. It reflects what we’ve discerned to be God’s mission and purpose for us. And if we’re honest, we don’t always live up to it, but we try. By bringing it to our attention every time we notice it printed it can make us more conscience of trying to be a caring community for all.

With it we haven’t given up anything and other ways that we might describe ourselves are not lost. This tag-line will serve us for the year to remind ourselves and tell the world what we are trying to be.

But here’s fair warning, “All” mean all. Make no mistake about it—everyone, no matter their circumstances or history will fine a caring community at St. Paul’s. People ridiculed, ignored, beaten, or lost in this world are welcomed here and will be cared for to the best of our abilities. Or we change “all” to “some” and that just doesn’t seem true to the Gospel.