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News > 2009 Parish Life Notes > 09.01.18 From the rector's desk

Jan 18, 2009

Something wonderful God has done for us

I want you to know something wonderful God has done for us so that we might celebrate his kindness, give glory to him and take great heart together. Despite the largest deficit we have ever faced at the end of last year, despite the weather, the markets and the Anglican troubles, we finished 2008 with a deficit of a mere $10,000. This is God’s doing and I want to let you know something of the story of how he worked.

God is teaching us how to share his blessings and not to hoard them selfishly, so we might be more like a mint than a bank: like a river not a swamp. Over the last several years as God has protected and provided for us, an increasing amount of our resources have been moving beyond our parish boundaries. We are now part of the Anglican Network in Canada, St. John’s Richmond was successfully launched and we are hosting training events for leaders and workers from other churches in a number of ministry areas. This year God gave us a precious unity in our Vestry vote, and we have increased our giving to Malawi as well as making significant commitments to training, outreach and prayer. God had added to our number those who are being saved and there are a number of ministries which are breaking new ground.

December 2008 was a difficult month in a number of ways. It came at the end of a tumultuous year for the global Anglican church, with the launch of the Anglican Network in Canada, the Lambeth conference, GAFCON and global Anglican leaders calling for the recognition of a replacement Anglican province in North America. How thankful we are for the provision of care from the Network. We came to the beginning of December needing $330K by year end – the largest amount ever, and this in the context of a marketplace which was in meltdown. December has traditionally been our largest month for financial offerings although we incur expenses steadily over the year. We have always felt that when faced with financial challenges, the right thing for us to do is to lay the issue as truthfully and plainly as we can before God in prayer and before you in each congregation. This we did in early December. And then the snow came.

You do not need me to tell you that December 2008 broke all records for cold and snowfall, with four consecutive snowstorms leaving over 60 cm of snow on the ground. The roads became impassable, the sidewalks treacherous and the weight of the snow on rooftops, threatening. We had very small congregations Sunday December 14, 21 and 28. We made the difficult decision to cancel two of the four Christmas Eve services (including the midnight service) and Christmas Day. On Boxing Day, late at night, the roof of the Portico collapsed under the tremendous weight of the snow. It seemed to be a metaphor for our helplessness.

The snow was beautiful and dangerous. I was very moved by a number of people who said to me that they were praying to God about our situation. Then, during the week after December 28 a large number of individual parishioners, made their way to the church office to deliver their financial gifts.

I am telling you this because it is very important for us to stop and mark the goodness and provision of God. We cannot congratulate ourselves. God keeps taking us beyond our resources and abilities and teaching us to trust him. This was not something staged, it was not a product of a clever human strategy, it was beyond human calculation. It was God’s doing and we should stop and praise Him for his grace and ask Him to help us trust Him for the future. Jesus taught that it matters to God that we should return to Him and give thanks for His goodness (Luke 17:12-20) and I call on you to stop what you are doing and kneel down and give thanks to God for His kindness, for His faithfulness and for His overwhelming grace to us.

David Short

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