Question One
1. Describe a moment in your worshipping community’s recent ministry which you recognize as one of success and fulfillment.
St. Peter’s welcomes hundreds of people through its doors, and those who attended Search Committee meetings this past fall answered this question in nearly as many ways—and that’s a great thing. Certainly there is no one answer to this question, or even 12 answers for that matter.
In the minds of many parishioners, the most special moments are those that occur at St. Peter’s regularly. “Communion was being served,” one member wrote of a typical Sunday service. “The choir and organ were full and glorious. I thought, this must be what heaven is like—all these people—so diverse—and yet all one and so full of joy.”
The recollections were also tied to specific events. One new member described attending choir practice in the parish hall during the holiday season. As the choir set the mood, a dozen homeless people, part of the Room In The Inn program, claimed cots set up around the hall. Volunteers bustled in the kitchen, and the scent of white beans and ham mingled with voices in the air.
“I thought,” said the new member, “these people put their heart where their mouth is. I knew this was the place for me.”
Still others mentioned the simple yet moving church service that commemorated the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. Others wrote of the inclusiveness of our church services each and every week. It is that inclusiveness that invites camaraderie with each other—and God.
One teenager told of the transcendent experience of a youth pilgrimage trip (taken somewhere every other year) to Italy, where not long after arriving in Rome, they were praying and receiving communion in the catacombs.
Certainly a high point of recent memory to many was the campaign to raise the funds for and the completion of a substantial renovation to our 130-year-old church building. The effort included the installation of a sublime new Fisk organ. Delivered in deconstructed form, dozens of parishioners carried the parts into the church—demonstrating that it takes many hands as well as many voices to make beautiful music.
