As we launch our new website in July 2018, I am closing out my fourth year serving as the priest at St. Peter's in Lebanon, IN. I often think about that first night that I interviewed with the Bishop's Committee. This place was a dot on the map of the diocese. They had been faithfully well-served by a long-time supply priest who had guided them and walked with them until the day they would call a priest of their own.
The last four years have been about building towards the point where we are now. We launched our Harvest House ministry this summer, made possible through a grant from the Center for Congregations. We have gardens that are full and regularly provide food to our local food pantries. We have bees that help us understand their role (and ours) in Creation. A majority of our focus is no longer on Sunday mornings at 10am but on the other days of the week and the activities that go on here. It is definitely an exciting time in our parish's history.
Later this month, the Bishop's Committee will work in an all-day Planning session as we seek to emulate the Diocesan call for "The Work Set Forth". We will discern, pray and listen to where God is calling the church in Lebanon. We believe that "Care of Creation" plays a pivotal role in the revitalization of this parish. With this in mind, we have launched our new website.
At St. Peter's you will find a church grounded in the Book of Common Prayer and liturgy of the Episcopal Church. You will also find a church that is deeply connected with the earth to which we have been entrusted. We can not claim to be a church of the Resurrection if we do not stop and notice the resurrection that is already occurring around us in our community and in the world in which we live through the growth of crops, the presence of bees, and the water which flows in our streams.
Christopher+