Remember Your Ancestors Stewardship Letter

Remember your ancestors,

those who spoke the word of God to you;

consider the outcome of their way of life,

and imitate their faith.

~Hebrews 13:7

We, St. Simons, turned 90 years old in February of this year.

We missed celebrating this tremendous milestone because we were immersed in COVID.  But it’s not too late to mark this moment in our communal journey.  In February we will be 90+1.  Let us use this anniversary to consider how Spirit bought us this far in our faith, and listen for where Spirit is leading us.

Our sacred story tells us that Spirit moves us as a people, by moving through people. People like:

Shiprah and Puah – the midwives who defied Pharoah and saved the Hebrew baby boys

Abraham – who left everything he knew, to follow God into a strange land

Esther – who found herself in a position to influence the King to save her people

Eldad and Medad – community leaders anointed by the Spirit to prophesy

Ruth – a foreign woman love for her mother-in-law made her an ancestor to King David

Jacob – the manipulative and dishonest younger son, who grew into a faithful leader of God’s people

Mary – a poor woman who trusted the Spirit when God chose to enter the world through her

Simon of Cyrene – an out of town visitor, forced by the empire, to participate in their violence,

 and yet also came alongside Jesus and accompanied him in his most vulnerable moment

Spirit moved through people, just like these, to create and grow the community of St. Simon’s.

Which St. Simon’s ancestors are part of your faith family tree?

Who spoke the word of God to you?

Who grew you in your faith?

Let us remember them, and tell their stories.  We can do this in many ways.

          Write down the story of someone important to you and send it to the office.  Set up a time to visit with Pastor Mary, and she will help record your story.

          Visit with friend. Take turns sharing and recording each other’s stories.

These are just a few ideas.  Vestry will be talking about other ways we can collect our stories and share them.  If you have ideas, please let me, or someone on vestry know.

This kind of storytelling is stewardship.

Stewards manage and look after the gifts given to them.  We are stewards of our ancestor’s stories, and stewards of the faith, community and property they handed down to us.

This season as we share stories of these stories, let us also consider how we continue the legacy of what we’ve received, how we grow and pass along our faith, community and resources to the next generation.

We have been blessed by our ancestors, to be a blessing!

I look forward to hearing the stories you are stewarding!

Shalom,

Pastor Mary