Dear friends,
As I write to you from my office at St. David’s, a pleasant warm wind is blowing through my window. I can see the foliage and flowers coming fully into their spring splendor. I am thinking about the long days, exciting trips, and warm weather to come with summer on the horizon! This warmth and goodness feel synchronous with our Eastertide season of resurrection. Like the disciples who encountered Jesus after the resurrection and began meeting together as a church, this season provides our community an opportunity to remember the journey we have been on and continue discerning the way forward.
This coming Sunday we will have a chance to remember and discern as a community through our practice of annual meeting. One of the things I love about St. David’s is that our annual meeting takes place during the post-Easter time of spring. It is typical for annual meetings to take place in January or February, at the close of the calendar/fiscal year. While this makes sense logistically and pragmatically, I love the theological resonance of a May meeting. In light of the good news of Easter, a May annual meeting shapes our hearts to remember that God’s grace-filled action is the foundation of the Church. The annual meeting is not just a time to look at budgets and numbers, as important as that is. As Episcopalians, the annual meeting is a moment to remember all the ways we are journeying with Jesus to accomplish our mission, “to restore all people to unity with God and each other in Christ” (Book of Common Prayer, p. 855). This is a time to remember our journey with gratitude, to tell the truth about who we are and where we have been, to acknowledge the challenges we have faced and will continue to face, and finally to listen together for the ways the Spirit is continuing to call to us.
While I am tempted to remember all the beauty, goodness, and challenges from this past year in writing, I ask instead that you join us in person at the annual meeting after the 9:15 a.m. service this Sunday (and check out the digital annual report online, with great ministry year-in-review videos!). None of this work would have been possible without you, the people of St. David’s. Your presence at the annual meeting is important and matters as we remember and discern together.
See you on Sunday!
Blessings,
Elliot VanHoy
Pastoral Associate
Published on May 2, 2025