Greetings and a warm welcome to all.
  

One of the wonderful aspects of our common life together is reading, listening to, and talking about scripture. We embrace the three-legged stool: Scripture, reason, and tradition. We make our leap of faith and then we make the thoughtful and informed connection to our own lives of what we read, learn and understand about God.  The folks in Jesus’ hometown had a different understanding of God from what Jesus revealed to them. The hometown crowd responded violently, but we are called to respond with patience and empathy.
   The reading from Corinthians today is the continuation of last week’s reading. We sometimes call Corinthians 13 the refrain of the previous chapter.
   Paul’s letter to the Corinthians 12-14 serves as a teaching on the church and the building up of the congregation through the relationships of its members. His letter has transcended time and serves us still today in the 21st century. It is important when we read scripture that we remain aware of the time, place, and situation to which it was written.  We are to also prayerfully discern, within a community of others, the ways in which God’s Word informs our lives today.  Whenever we have the opportunity to learn from others, we are better for it.
   The Christian Formation Committee is offering a wonderful opportunity to meet and learn from Dr. Peter Cohen, a professor of Religion at Clemson University, who will be here February 7 and 14 during the Christian Education class time, 9:15-10:15. Dr. Cohen received his Ph.D from Florida State University and has been teaching at Clemson since 1995. He also serves as instructor in the University’s Osher Life Long Learning Institute for retired people in the community. His own faith tradition is Jewish, and he will share with us his faith, and field our questions about the Jewish faith.  I thank the Christian Formation Committee and Dr. Cohen for this wonderful opportunity to deepen, and strengthen our understanding of scripture. Everyone is invited and encouraged to be present.
   Before my arrival here, and through the avenue of Healthy Church Initiative, you identified the following as your four Core Values: Compassion, Fellowship, Worship and Prayer, and Christian Education. At the recent retreat your vestry has made the commitment to carry forward these four Core Values and to implement them more fully over the course of time. The vestry has made the covenant to serve and minister as a unified body, affirming and honoring its unity in its diversity. Your vestry also reaffirmed its intention to remain focused on Christ’s mission, remain positive, and seek and serve Christ in all. We all are made unique in the eyes of God and we all have gifts for ministry to be used for the edifying of the Christian community. Read again OUR four Core Values, pray with them, ponder them in your hearts, and then determine how you will answer the call to serve using the gifts that God has given to you.
   Finally, please support the “Bread and Water” program of the diocese that is urgently in need of funds to meet the pressing needs of our mission at Cange, Haiti. Although the recent earthquake in Haiti did not damage Cange, the mission faces critical shortages as it braces to meet the needs of hundreds of thousands of refugees who have lost everything are fleeing to the region in search of security and a means of survival. Send checks to Diocesan House, 1115 Marion Street, Columbia, SC 29201 marked “For Haiti – Bread and Water.”

Shalom,  Deedie+