Dear Church of the Redeemer,
When I was in high school, they made me read The Canterbury Tales. This may have happened to you as well. I was not familiar with the Anglican tradition of Christianity at the time, and I was also not paying much attention in class, so I did not really grasp that the characters portrayed in the stories were people on a pilgrimage – but they were! They were Christians on a pilgrimage to Canterbury, the historic seat of their (and our) church.
What did strike me about the Canterbury Tales – even as a disinterested teenager – was these characters and the community they were building by telling these stories. I could picture not only the tales they told, but the settings in which they told them – on the road, around the fire, at a tavern. These people were not just walking the road, they were making friends and building community along the way.
We have been talking about pilgrimage for the last year at the Church of the Redeemer, and if I’m honest, I’m still not sure everyone sees that we are on one. We are though: We are journeying together into the next chapter of our life as a church. We are still ourselves, but there is a visible, palpable transformation occurring as we move towards the fulfillment of our vision of a beloved community that knows Jesus and grows in love. Our literal pilgrimage to the borderlands this Fall is not a side project, but a manifestation of the larger pilgrimage we as a faith community are taking.
But whether or not some of us see that we are on this pilgrimage, every one of us sees that we are building community. We are telling stories and sharing life and undertaking ministry and singing songs and praying and listening and speaking with one another. Even when teenaged me didn’t perceive the pilgrimage occurring in Chaucer’s book, I grasped the power of the community that was being formed therein. And I think the same is true for us all here at Church of the Redeemer.
We live in a time and place where people are increasingly isolated, stratified, and starving for community. And at the Church of the Redeemer, we are building a powerful, exciting, Christ-centered community rooted and grounded in unconditional love and belonging. There is nothing else like it in my life, and I am guessing if you are reading this, you might say the same. We are messy and imperfect, to be sure, and that truth has never stopped God from showing up, from loving us, from leading us on this pilgrimage into a deeper love for the world God has made.
We are at that time of year when we are building our operating budget for 2027. The majority of that budget is empowered directly from your giving. I invite you to prayerfully reflect on this community you have helped build. And please consider what you will give in 2027. When you give to the Church of the Redeemer, you are building community in a very real and practical way. You are empowering our pilgrimage; you are taking steps in your own pilgrimage: We are walking this road together.
Philip Hart DeVaul †
p.s. I know that money is a sensitive subject for so many: If you have any questions, thoughts, or concerns about your pledge, I invite you to contact me directly, and I’m glad to talk things through with you.
