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Message from the Rector
By The Rev. Dr. Vincent Joseph Kopp
Dear Good People of St. Stephen’s,
For most of us Labor Day is the unofficial end of summer.
In Oxford, summer gets its sendoff on September 10th at the Hot Sauce Festival.
By September 22nd, the Autumn Equinox makes it official: another summer is over.
We live in these spirals of time. Through them we order our opportunities to do better and our progress toward a new state of being.
As Christians, to do better is to offer and receive mercy and forgiveness, while our sought after new state of being is unity in Christ.
So it is, in autumn, we “re-start our church selves.” Youth and adult formation activities pick up. We think about the pledges of time, talent, and treasure we can offer heading into the next season of giving and thanksgiving. We seek opportunities to make progress even as we know the seasons have changed and the past season can never be reclaimed.
Yet in the midst of the spirals we know what remains constant: The love of God. It is the axle upon which the entirety of Creation turns.
Let Us Pray:
40. For Knowledge of God's Creation (BCP p. 827)
Almighty and everlasting God, you made the universe with all its marvelous order, its atoms, worlds, and galaxies, and the infinite complexity of living creatures: Grant that, as we probe the mysteries of your creation, we may come to know you more truly, and more surely fulfill our role in your eternal purpose; in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
In Christ,
Vincent+
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