Our Rector
The Reverend James C. Paul is Rector of St. Peter's Anglican Church and is ordained as a priest in the Anglican Church of Uganda.

Letter from the Rector
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February 2009 Letter

As I watched the Inauguration yesterday I was struck by many thoughts, as you undoubtedly were. One that particularly interested me was the whole political process that has led to our new leadership. How fortunate we are to live in a country which protects this process and insures an orderly and peaceful transition. What has happened here in the last several years could not happen in most other countries—bullets instead of words would have flown. The system is not perfect—all are not pleased with the results but we all get a chance to play. I was also struck by the message from our new President, one full of challenges—hope— promises and warnings.

I cannot help but feel that things will get better— that our expectations can rise and be met. It feels like coming out into the light when we had been— not in darkness—but certainly in dim light. No matter your party affiliation or personal feelings, this country is in crisis and a new path, change if you will, needs to be taken. If we continue to do all things in the same ways as in the past, we will not
succeed. Each of us bears some responsibility for both the past mistakes and future successes. It will take each of us doing our part to bring this country into a new era of prosperity and security.

It is the same in our church and in The Church. In the last several years we have come through a dark time—not totally without sight or direction, but a time of uncertainty and great trial. That time, like our country’s, is not yet over.

We are on the way, we have selected a new pathway, but the journey continues. We cannot grow lax and lazy, we cannot abandon hope, we cannot not continue on. We bear the name and mark of Christ and our charge is to celebrate that, preserve it for others and to pass it on to the world. St. Peter’s is a small outpost of mission, one of thousands of faithful places where the Gospel and Jesus Christ are preached and lived. We know the answer to the question that Jesus asked Peter and
the answer: “Whom do people say that I am”... “Thou are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.”

We know how critical the question and answer are— how the world yearns for clarity surrounding Jesus. We know that the ancient faith has long provided the answer and still does today. We know how important this is in a world that changes allegiances
and pathways, lifestyles and fashion on whims— winds that blow and then disappear in an instant. There is not truth and no foundation in such ways.

This next year, after our Annual Meeting on January 25, 2009, will bring more challenges and opportunities that we can personally bear. It is only our faith and trust in Jesus Christ which enables us to bear what life brings in an onslaught at times. Christ yesterday, today and tomorrow, the same. What sustained us in the past will do so in the future—despite the newness, in the sameness, deep in the difference. There is nothing in which we cannot be conquerors—through Christ. Grace and Peace!

Faithfully, In His Name
Jim+
The Rev. James C. Paul, Rector

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