Sunday July 19 was made special by the presence of Leslie Ibezim's extended family as they observed a special blessing for Leslie, a custom of the Anglican Church in Nigeria. Leslie, a 2009 graduate of Gates-Chili High School, was named a member of the National Honor Society and a 2009 Black Scholar of the Urban League of Rochester. She will be attending the University of Rochester this fall as a pre-med student.
At the offertory, Leslie, her parents, Joseph and Gloria Ibezim, her brothers and sisters, uncle, aunt, cousins and other family members, came to the altar where they received a blessing in honor of Leslie's commencement and future. It was a special moment for all of us.
Fr. David's sermon, "The Foundation upon which the Church is being built", was based on Ephesians 2:11-22, in which Paul describes Christ as the cornerstone and the apostles and prophets the foundation of the "holy temple" into which we are all built, the Church.
"Without Christ as the cornerstone, there is no Church," Fr. David said, referring to I Corinthians 3:11, ""For no other foundation can any one lay than that which is laid down, which is Jesus Christ." He continued by cautioning that in many places the Church "is becoming progressively a work of man" rather than a true work of God as it is meant to be. He also raised the concern that today's consuming quest for "relevance" by some in the Church can only assure eternal irrelevance. We need to be praying for and caring for the souls who are being led astray from the true foundation of those Jesus authorizes according to His authority and His Word (Apostles and Prophets). He closed by urging us to let Christ be our LORD, and let us stand up for Him. For our Recessional Hymn we all sang 'Stand up, Stand up, for Jesus'.
NOTES: All Saints has been formally transferred from the Mukono Diocese of the Province of Uganda to the Diocese of the Holy Spirit under Bishop John Guernsey of the Anglican Church in North America. Praise the Lord! Parish administrative and financial responsibilities will be undertaken by the "new" church Vestry beginning August 2. The Vestry has elected Beth Sanders as the new Junior Warden and Tom Stone as the new Senior Warden.
Next Sunday, July 26, we will join our brothers and sisters of Reformation Lutheran in the upstairs sanctuary for worship at 10 a.m. Fr. David will be the guest preacher in a Service of the Word ( Holy Communion will not be offered ).
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