Rachel's Stewardship Moment

We are now well into our annual stewardship campaign at St Philip's and each Sunday before the service, we have heard from different members of the congregation about what St Philip's means to them. This week's stewardship moment, done by Rachel Cassie, was so wonderful I wanted to share it as widely as possible.

Here are Rachel's words:

Good morning. My name is Rachel Cassie. As part of stewardship, I was asked to respond to the question “What does St. Philip’s mean to me?”

I had to think quite a bit to answer this question and I’m still not sure I’m able to put words to it.

Of course, there are lots of individual experiences that are powerful memories:  many years of the 5:00 Christmas Eve service…Youth group car washes and sleepovers…Amazing games of hide and seek late at night.  I learned I could actually fit into the lazy susan that was in the corner of the old kitchen.     It made a great hiding place when I was in grade 6.

But that doesn’t really answer the question what St. Philip’s means to me. I think it’s that St. Philip’s is a place where I feel kind of rooted. My parents and my grandmother come here. I’ve been coming here to St. Philip’s since I was only two.

St. Philip’s is about connections, too. You know, through most of my week, other than my family, I’m almost always in the company of other teenagers. Church is a place where there are a lot of people…From all age groups…with whom I have a connection.

St. Philip’s is a quiet, contemplative part of my week. It gives me a space to think – about all kinds of things.

I’ve learned a little about leadership, too through my experience serving. 

Oh!  And  I have many unusual vocabulary words to pull out in a game of Scrabble or Boggle.  Words like:  narthex…or sacristy… or chalice…or alb.

That’s what St. Philip’s means to me.

Thank you to Rachel for granting me permission to share your thoughts with the wider community. I connected very strongly with this as it reflected what I have experienced as one of the greatest gifts of being part of a Church community, and that is being able to build caring relationships with people from many different generations. This was very important to me when I was growing up and it remains one of my favourite things about Church life today.

I am very grateful that St Philip's is a community where young people have this experience and are called to share it.