Time to Register for Camp!

Camp Bratton-Green’s Mission is to foster and nurture the spiritual growth of children through a Christian Camp Experience. 

Camp is offered for children and young people who are finishing 1st through 9th grades. Opportunities to help with Special Session Camp is offered for teenagers and adults of all ages. 

If you are looking for enriching, safe, fun experiences for your children or grandchildren this year that are sure nurture their faith and to expand their horizons, consider Camp Bratton-Green! 

You will find the summer camp schedule on our bulletin board in the parish hall and at www.graycenter.org.

For more information or to inquire about scholarship assistance for camp, speak to the Rev. Giulianna Gray. 

Savior, like a Shepherd Lead Us

As it always does, May will bring transition for many of us this year. Graduations and other inevitable changes await us! While we may be aware that the time is ripe for some things to end in order for other new beginnings may start, changes and chances of life can make us a bit weary... 

It was to the weary crowds that Jesus spoke words of comfort captured so beautifully in John’s Gospel: 

“I am the Good Shepherd. I know my own, and my own know me.” 

If Jesus is the Good Shepherd, however, this means that we are the sheep. Sheep are funny creatures! 

Sheep absent-mindedly wander away from safety and find themselves stuck in dangerous, precarious situations. They leave pastures of plenty only to find they are hungry, thirsty, and in need of help to find their way home. 

If we’re honest, the analogy pretty well! What grace that we have been given a Good Shepherd who knows us... and still loves us. What a grace that our Good Shepherd persistently searches for us and longs to lead us to the green pastures of abundant life we cannot find on our own. 

Friends, when the changes of life start to make us weary, may we have the wisdom to walk very closely to the one who known us and calls us by name. 

Giulianna+ 

Jesus, you are the Good Shepherd of your sheep. Grant us your guidance and protection so we who are wearied by the changes and chances of this life may rest in your eternal changelessness; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 

Stepping Out in Faith

We have a children’s book in our house entitled, A Small Thing, But Big. It tells the story of a little girl and her mother who meet an old man walking his dog in the park. 

The little girl is first very intimidated by the little dog. With time, however, she musters the courage to approach the dog. She watches the dog closely, speaks to his owner, and eventually learns he isn’t an animal she needs to fear. Eventually, the little girl reaches out her hand and pets the dog. And with a little more time, she cautiously but courageously accepts the leash from the owner and begins walking the dog around the park all by herself. 

I enjoy reading this with my children. I can see myself in the shoes of the girl’s mother in the story as she watched the little girl stand a little taller with each step she took around the park that day. The story reminds us that life is full of small, but big things. Some of these things, we do on our own. Other things, we do in the company of others. But each time we step out in faith, we trust that we are going with God’s help. 

On Sunday, March 4th, three of the young people who have been here at St. Stephen’s since they were just babies are going to do a small, but big thing. They are going to be confirmed. 

On their confirmation day, Anna Gresham, Fran, and Whit will stand before our Bishop and tell the whole church that they fully intend to keep the promises that were made on their behalf at their baptisms. They all were baptized before they were old enough to speak for themselves, and so this will be their opportunity to make a public commitment to serve in the name of our life-giving God. 

I look forward to gathering with them on Sunday, and I especially look forward to continuing to watch each of them stand a bit taller and more confident as disciples of Jesus through the coming years. With just 30 days remaining in Lent, I encourage all of us to continue doing the small but big things that make this season of Lent a holy one. Be diligent in prayer and worship, take courage in giving of yourselves to serve, and trust that the crosses we carry lead not to death but to life.

Giulianna+