Dear St. Peter’s Family,
A few weeks ago, I was approached by Leo Guen asking if I would agree to a Zoom meeting on Sunday morning, August 9th with parishioners and friends to share some stories and experiences over my time at St. Peter’s. As I find it much easier to give than receive, I approached this with much trepidation. My mother would have advised me to be gracious and set aside my unease and be open to this event.
First challenge for this non-techie was to get Zoom set up on my desktop, and thanks to my granddaughter Brittany I was ready, and yet some of my anxiety kept me from realizing I had not turned on the speaker, so could not at first hear what was being said. Finally, success!
Very quickly I felt I was at a wonderful fellowship gathering of so many dear friends as each person was on my monitor and it was such a welcome sight to see your faces and hear your voices. We have been absent from Sunday worship in the church for too long, and being together in this way brought me much joy and thanks.
As you shared remembered times in our parish life, whether it was to raise funds to support the parish, or planned celebrations of clergy anniversaries, it brought so many memories of good times and the valued friendships that resulted from working together. I was truly overwhelmed with your outpouring of friendship and love. My daughter Amy sat beside me and handed me tissues as I was so often feeling tears fill my eyes as I listened to your words and looked at the many pictures.
I am profoundly aware of the time and effort that went into this event, and sincerely thank each of you who participated in putting this together. You are my second family and a true blessing in my life. Although I am moving to Ohio in another week, I will remain a member of our parish and hope to see you all again before long. As Ohio gets a lot more snow than we do in Phoenixville, I will wait till the Spring, and hope to join you on a Sunday morning as we fill the church again with our presence.
Know that I am deeply grateful for our time together and keep each and every one of you in my prayers that you be safe, be well, and be blessed.
With love,
Retta