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Sally: Good morning! George and I are here to tell you all a little about how our faith has grown at All Saints-by-the-Sea.
As many of you know, I grew up in England and Switzerland in the Church of England. We went to church sporadically, Christmas and Easter for sure, and my first memories of Sunday school are at the Anglican Church in Geneva, Switzerland, where we learned the Lord’s Prayer.
Fast forward, through Evensong services at English boarding school, with all those lovely prayers and hymns, and then high school years here in Southern California. We attended St Edmunds Episcopal Church in San Gabriel where my twin sister and I taught Sunday school and attended Youth Group meetings regularly. We were confirmed by Bishop Rusack. Then, as many young Episcopalians do, I stopped going to church for a while, during college, but the seeds had been planted.
George and I were married at St Edmunds and, soon after, we moved to Santa Barbara. I started attending All Saints by myself then, again sporadically, until our first child was born. We wanted her to experience church and Sunday school, so I brought her to All Saints with me. Our other 2 children followed, as did George. He will tell you about that in a bit! I taught Sunday School here for many years, having as my students, along with my own children, many wonderful members of this congregation: Marshall, Nicholas and Claire Miller, Sally, Tom and Gillian Conway, Diane Andonian’s boys, Loren and Sean, and many others. I have served on the Outreach Committee, as a Lay Eucharistic Minister, as a Lay Reader and as the Acolyte Coordinator. In the past, I have organized our themed summer picnics, as well as other get-togethers over the years.
And as I did so, you became part of our family – our church family. And of course, along the way, we have been supported by and we have supported our All Saints family. That goes without saying. Now George will tell you how his faith grew.
George: I was a Roman Catholic dropout when I came to the Christmas Pageant at All Saints. And I was hooked – especially when I spotted my daughter, an angel in the procession. That was 35 years ago!
We have had many wonderful rectors over the years and we have made many friends. Our children and 2 granddaughters were baptized here. They participated as acolytes, and Sally and I had the renewal of our wedding vows at All Saints on our 25th wedding anniversary. We have both served on the Vestry, and as Acolyte Coordinators. Fifteen years ago, we started the Outreach Golf Tournament.
Gethin Hughes, a former rector at All Saints, asked me to be a Lay Eucharistic Minister after the death of my father, a job I enjoy very much and hope to resume when things settle down from this pandemic.
Over the last year, as many of you know, I was diagnosed with 2 different cancers. Through surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation, the church family was there for me – I even had a pastoral visit by Father Paul at my hospital in Santa Monica! What a surprise! Your prayers have been much appreciated every Sunday and I am glad to report that I am cancer-free at this time. Through all this, All Saints by the Sea has been a refuge and constant in our lives. So stewardship comes easily to Sally and me. We can’t imagine our lives without the church.
The church restoration has been very exciting to watch, and although we have enjoyed the virtual services, we can’t wait until we are back in our beloved Sanctuary. So I hope you will join us in offering a pledge during this stewardship drive – to continue God’s work in this place.
As it says in the Gospel of St. Matthew, For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
