Welcome Back Sunday - Rector's Rambling for September 8, 2024

     Today has been dubbed Welcome Back Sunday here at St. John’s because of our Welcome Back luncheon being served after the 10 AM Service. 

The ‘welcome back’ we are referring to is for the return of the full choir, the restarting of Sunday School, and the upcoming start of meetings for the Daughters of the King, the Adult Education class offering on Dante, and the Alpha Course!  And for some, ‘welcome back’ is also in effect for those who have been away for much of the summer traveling.

But there is something bigger for us to think about in saying ‘welcome back’ and that is for those who are coming back to the practice of the faith and attending worship services - both things being related to each other in an important way!  As a college student I walked away from the practice of the faith, and only rarely attended worship.  By God’s grace I came back to the practice of the faith by the invitation of a friend to join me at his church in Philadelphia, and began attending regularly at the invitation of a small group of warm and welcoming faithful attenders at their weekday Evening Prayer service!  The chart above, floating around social media, rings true in my experience and observation as a clergyman for 30 years. 

Invite someone to Church!  You may be the person Our Lord is using to bring them back to the practice of the faith, or into a new relationship with Him!  Let God use you for this.  Pray for people, invite them, pray for them again, and invite again.  You never know who may respond, or if your invitation is a follow up on someone else’s prayer and invitation.  If a relationship with our Lord is important to you, it is worth sharing that good news with others as well!