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Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Once again, thank you for your warm and gracious welcome to Fran and me this weekend. It was a joy to be back with you. In case you missed it…the staff organized a brief “formal” welcome at the 9:15 and 11 a.m. services and presented us with a 15’ long banner that read “Welcome Back Fr. David and Fran.” There are hundreds of signatures and notes from you all. Wow…we still have not finished reading them all!
And then, someone really good at Photoshop presented me with this mock cover of the fwd: magazine. Hmmmm.

It is all very welcoming…and our hearts are thankful to be back.
Here are a few things I want you to know:

1. I am working with our preaching clergy to present the next series of messages called Every Day Grace in all services (including Chapel Hill) over the weekend. As you can see by the video here, I think it is a timely and needed series for our time.While the economy is on the forefront of our minds, we must understand that God has important things to say to us at such a time as this. I tried to get at some of this last week in my message. But this week I hope to open the treasure chest of power and joy that we find in the biblical truth of Grace.I particularly want to encourage and implore you to seek out your neighbors, friends, family and co-workers to attend with you this weekend. I have lived through many of these crises (though none like this) over the past two decades and the same thing always happens: people withdraw. Those with worries and anxieties tend to pull away from God. But they also pull away from friends and family members. If marriages are already stressed, the additional major challenges of the day add more and more pressure. It is not a good thing.It is at times like this that a church family can respond and reach out to a community in need. But it means that YOU must be the heart and hands of our Lord to those around you.
2. There is a website that I find myself going to several times during the week. It seems to be a balanced, Christian worldview-oriented website with a large number of intriguing articles on the issues facing our culture. I would recommend it: www.culture11.com. You may not recognize all of the names, but I have not read a bad article yet (of course, there are some I disagree with.)
3. Last January many of us were able to attend the annual Winter Conference of the AMiA in Dallas. It was a great event. The next one is coming up this January in Greensboro, NC. The website and brochure can be found here. I am honored to be a plenary speaker for this conference. I have asked Howard to find some money in our lean budget in 2009 to send our clergy and spouses to the conference. For clergy families it is an important reunion, but it would also be great to have members of Christ Church attend as well.
4. I want to be sure you know about Trinity School for Ministry in Ambridge, PA where I serve as the Chairman of the Board of Trustees. Fran and I were there recently for the board retreat and meeting and the installation of the new Dean/President, the Very Rev. Dr. Justyn Terry. Justyn is an amazing leader, scholar and preacher. He is fast becoming a greatly admired friend of mine and has some wonderful plans for the school. As soon as I can, I will invite Justyn to come to Christ Church to preach and teach. Meanwhile, check out their website…and especially this if you know of people who might want to pursue a theological education. (That sweet couple in the picture on the webpage is Christ Church’s own Jon and Amelia Parker. Fran and I were blessed with an evening with them while we were there.)
5. Finally, I spoke with Bishop Bill Godfrey this week in Peru. He is doing quite well (some may remember how sick he was one year ago.) He tells me that they are only a week or two away from being able to move into the Leadership Center in Lima. You recall that Christ Church made a major gift of $500,000 for the purchase of that building a few months ago as part of our Chapter Two campaign. You can catch up on the news here.

‘See you this weekend.
David+