This year our Stewardship Team is asking us to remember the Harvest of Faithfulness of which we are partakers as Franciscans.  So many wonderful folks have come before us who have planted the seeds and nurtured the soil that now allows us, as the Psalmist says, to be “like trees…bearing fruit in due season.” (Psalm 1:3)  And this harvest, if we stop to recognize it and name it, is much greater than just a fine feast to be shared among ourselves, but one that we are called to share with the world.

Last year our Stewardship celebration theme was “First Fruits” and through your gracious, faithful response, we were able to restore our second full-time staff position and welcome Father Ben as our Assistant Rector.  We strengthened our Youth Ministry program by welcoming Maggie Webb as our Youth Intern and continued our outreach to the greater community through new initiatives like Path to Shine and our Vacation Bible School in the Lynmore Estates community.  We welcomed Barbara Windom as our deacon to give pastoral oversight to our outreach ministries and engaged in a strategic planning process that will offer us a roadmap into the next season of our history as a church family. St. Francis is growing like never before.

To help us remember, recognize, name, and share this Harvest of Faithfulness, we invited members of the parish – both long timers and those who have more recently come to name this place as “home” – to share their stories of faithfulness with the parish on several Sunday mornings beginning in mid-October.  We learned about the faithfulness of the “early Franciscans” and their commitment to prepare a place for the “ones to come”.  Eugene Basinski who looked at our grounds and saw “a golden road”, angels like Bruce Bridges welcoming the newcomers as old friends, and Hasell LaBorde’s determination that we would remain true to our liturgical roots are just a few parts of the St. Francis Story we enjoyed hearing.

Pledge packets have been given out and all are asked to prayerfully consider for the next two weeks how you might respond in faith with a financial gift to support the continued life and mission of St. Francis – not just for the operation of a building, but for our call and mission to be the Body of Christ for Middle Georgia and the world.  Then on All Saints’ Sunday (November 6), we will offer up these faithful pledges to God in thanksgiving for all God has shared with us and in communion with all of the saints of this place and the saints of our own lives that have gone before.

And God will be blessed.  And God will bless us to continue the Kingdom building work to which God has been calling us for generations now.  Please join us in celebrating this Harvest of Faithfulness.

Peace,

Chad+

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