Dear Friends,

This has been one of the saddest weeks I have had as a Priest, maybe even the saddest.  We will be having funerals for two loved parishioners this week and next. I ask you, please do your best to hold up and support the family members who are feeling left behind. It is incumbent upon us all to do this work, as difficult as it is. Over my eight years here at St. Gregory’s I have buried and said good-bye to more parishioners than I can even count at this point. I have performed more funerals than weddings and baptisms. I have not prepared anyone for confirmation or reception into the Episcopal Church. When I look back on my eight years I am thankful for my call to serve and this church’s response to my leadership, yet I am sad that I have not been able to do more. I know – some of this is because the times we are in with the mainstream churches’ declining. I wish and I pray it was different. That is because I believe so strongly that we need church. We need to gather, remember, and rejoice. We need God in our lives. We need each other. Those who attend regularly can probably speak to this need better than I can.

I know, from my own experience, that when I sat in the pews, spent time with the community in coffee hour and on projects and committees, I felt like I had a family. Some of my most endearing friends came from the church over the years. They loved me and I loved them. It was genuine. When I was going through tougher times in my life I had people from the community reach out and help me. I took their help because I had learned in therapy that my tendency was to shut myself off and try to take care of my own problems. This didn’t work very well at all. So, when I began letting people help me I was able to get stronger and healthier. I was able to navigate most things in life. I knew God was working in my life and God was doing this through the people of my parishes. I pray others can come to know this and experience this. St. Gregory’s does a wonderful job of holding up and supporting each other. I am grateful.


Warmly and with many blessings,
Mother Lily+