Praise be to St. Martha, Mary & Lazarus Friends of Jesus for bringing the staff together today. That happens to be the name of my parish, yes the ENTIRE name! Most Kingwood residents don’t even realize the actual name because most think it is just St. Martha’s. However, I do find it fitting that we have not only St. Martha (the one who worked so hard to serve Jesus) but Mary (the one who took great joy in recognizing the gift of having Jesus on earth) and Lazarus (the living example of God’s miracle) as a unified example of being called out as his FRIENDS.
Today, our staff had a day of retreat led by Fr. John Keller (from Prince of Peace). He helped us to come together and break open the key ingredients of being a spirit led parish 1.) Hospitality and 2.) Welcoming. They might appear to fall under the same category but the way in which we broke them apart as a parish staff actually allowed us to see the varying aspects of being hospitable and welcoming from the aspect of our specific ministry but also to be hospitable and welcoming within the dynamics of our interpersonal work environment.
I think it became clear to all of us that by coming into the meeting (and our ministry) called by God as individuals with gifts, when we come together and intersperse our call (and ministry) we make up the foundation by which the Holy Spirit needs to be able to move in order to be free to reach the entire congregation. WE are not ‘just’ St. Martha, or ‘just’ Mary, or even ‘just’ Lazarus. We are ALL FRIENDS OF JESUS that are working toward the same goal and that is bringing one another closer to Christ.
It was a good day. I wanted to post a picture Joy took of our eclectic group but for some reason it won’t upload on my computer! 🙁
Thanks to Joy for being so diligent in being the implementer in bringing us all together.
Blessings
Shannon