A reminder that our Annual Parish Meeting is Sunday, January 29th immediately after the 11 am service. I hope as many of you as possible can attend. It is potluck with the church providing the pulled pork or fried chicken. Please bring sides to share.

At this meeting we will have a wrap up of how we ended 2022. The budget for 2023 will be presented along with the general fiscal health of the parish. A spiritual health report of the parish by the rector will also be presented. We will also vote on the slate of four candidates for vestry. The slate includes Susan Locke, Brantley Nicholson, Brittney Kish-Lightsey, and Robert Goodman.

This morning’s gospel for Morning Prayer is from Mark. It is the parable of the sower. In that parable we hear that depending upon where the seed fell and how it was nourished by the ground upon which it fell, determines the health of the plants and thus the yield of the crops.

It is not unlike our relationship within the worshipping community of St. Francis Episcopal Church. St. Francis, the community, and the work God asks of us, is the seed and we, the individuals of the community, are the ground. How shall we nourish each other and the community to yield our crop of service to a loving God and to the larger community?