Message From Rev Gary Bradley,

In the 32nd chapter of Genesis there is the wonderful story of Jacob’s struggle with God. The Lord God appears to him as a man who challenges him to a wrestling match which lasts the whole night! Have you ever struggled with the Lord in your faith journey? And did it feel like a wrestling match? Jacob holds his own through the encounter and, and although his hip is “touched” (wounded), Jacob (now renamed “Israel”) extracts a blessing from the angel/man/Lord himself – a blessing for all generations of his descendents.  But the BEST part of the story is the conclusion as Jacob (Israel) leaves this place he now names to honor his night-long struggle, Face-of-God (Peniel): Here is Israel (Jacob) limping toward the sunrise, with new vision, new hope, new blessing, and a new nation – his people who bear his name, Israel.

We too may limp toward the sunrise in our journeys of life, but it is the sunrise, not the limp, that is our focus! 

Stewardship Season is upon us! Does that make you feel like Jacob, having to struggle all night with God? I hope, instead, that it brightens your spirit to be able to focus on the sunrise of God’s grace, calling you into relationship with the Lord and the Lord’s people of The Church of Our Saviour.

Pledges to The Church are personal and private, so what I am about to say is an exception. Peg and I choose, for us and for no one else, to pledge 10 % of our net incomes to this church. We are firmly convinced by the deep joy it gives us.  We hope you can experience how much joy it will give you to reach whatever level you feel is possible for you.

“He is like the light of the morning, like refreshing rains that bring tender grass from the earth.” (2 Sam. 23:4)

With the past in God’s keeping, the future in the hands of a Loving God, we celebrate this moment before us: the sunrise of God’s generous grace,

The Rev. Gary J. Bradley

Priest-in-Charge