The Last Word
November 15, 2009 by Stephen Schneider
Dear People of Grace,
As a child growing up in the church I was fascinated by that word Amen. Amen I learned was a word that appears in both the Hebrew and the Christian scriptures. In our family it was also a word that came at the end of our prayers at the dinner table.
Over the years I have heard some pronounce it “Ay-men,” while others will say “Ah-men!” But however you pronounce it, Amen is a word of strength at the end of a solemn declaration. Amen means, let it be so!
As an act of affirmation, Amen always points us to the future.
On Sunday, November 22, we will be saying a final Amen to the Centennial Year with a celebratory luncheon. What a year this has been!
+ We began in Advent of 2008 with a retreat led by Bishop Rustin and Gretchen Kimsey.
+ In early 2009 we held a historic service utilizing the 1892 Book of Common
Prayer, the prayer book used at the time our founding.
+ Our festivities continued on Pentecost with Bishop Sandy Hampton and a cake that held a
hundred candles.
+ A highpoint of the year was the visit of Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori who
spoke on the theme, “What does it mean to be a church for the 21st century?”
+ On All Saints Day we filled the church with a centennial benefit concert, “Blessings
and Blues,” featuring a stellar line- up of Gospel and Blues artists.
Now it’s time to say Amen to what has been. It is also time to make a renewed commitment to the future as we begin “Grace for a new century.”
In a few days we will each be called upon to make our commitment to the ongoing life and witness of our parish to this city and to our world through the annual act of stewardship.
I hope you will be prayerful in discerning what God is calling you to do and that you will be generous when the opportunity comes to make your pledge of support. Now is the time to say—“To all that has been and to that shall be, Amen!”
Faithfully,
Stephen V. Schneider