I have always felt called to belong to a church community, and to support it with my financial resources, imagination and time. Perhaps this comes from growing up in the same town that both my parents were born in, and that both sets of grandparents were born in, and in the church my Mother’s parents founded and built with others in 1927. Their names, along with those of others, were on the mortgage, which fortunately the congregation faithfully paid off through the Great Depression and World War II. My grandparents and parents have, between them, over 225 years of service in that church, rotating on and off the Board of Elders, the Board of Trustees, the Deacons, and innumerable committees. So I grew up knowing that a church doesn’t just happen. It is created and sustained by the attention, love, loyalty, and commitment, and the strengths, ability to forgive and resources of its congregation. And it gives back to its members as they give to it.

When I came to D.C., I looked for a church to join, and found St. Thomas’.  I liked the sermons here, which being raised Presbyterian I focused on first.  Then I grew to love the liturgy, the Parish’s progressive congregation and rectors, and worshipping in its intimate “upper room.”

 For 17 years I have gained spiritual strength and renewal here.  Many of my closest friends come from here.  St. Thomas’ has provided me with my community within the greater city.  And through my nurturing of St. Thomas’, I feel that I have fulfilled, and continue to fulfill, the commandment to spread the Gospel.  Through St. Thomas’, and its relationships and work with the House of Ruth, Samaritan Ministry of Greater Washington, Feed the Hungry, Transitional Housing Corporation, and parishes in Honduras, I believe that I have fulfilled, and continue to fulfill, the commandment to feed the hungry and provide clothing, housing and work for the poor.  I have a yearning to live in and support a Christian community, and to live out Christ’s teachings, and that yearning is met here.