Today we gather as the elected leaders of Christ Church Eureka parish to pray together, to break bread, to laugh, to play and to listen to each other and to be guided by the Holy Spirit among us as we begin to articulate a mission statement for the church. God has chosen each of us to be the shepherds for Christ Church Eureka for such a time as this, as we enter a new era together, and guide the community as one flock under the one truly good shepherd Jesus Christ.
Today, the Episcopal Church celebrates two saints who were both shepherds who laid down their lives for their sheep: St. Cyprian a 3rd century theologian, bishop and martyr from North Africa and James Chisholm, a 19th century Episcopal priest from Portsmouth VA who died of yellow fever while assisting others who suffered from the epidemic. These two shepherds, Cyprian and James Chisholm, were spiritually rooted in prayer and worship. In his treatise on the Lord’s Prayer, St. Cyprian wrote, “We say, ‘Hallowed be thy Name,’ not because we want God to be made holy by our prayers, but because we seek from the Lord that his Name may be made holy in us… so that we who have been made holy in Baptism may persevere in what we have begun to be.” We pray that God’s Name and the Name of Christ be honored in our lives. We pray that we who are Christians and members of Christ Church may bring glory to Christ through our ministries so that others can see that God’s Name is honored by us and made holy in us and in the choices we make.
I see St. Cyprian embodying the core value of discipleship/formation through his teaching and writing. And I see James Chisholm embodying the core values of service/outreach through his sacrificial care for the sick and dying. Both of them were rooted in prayer and worship and both of them were shepherds and yet both hallowed God’s name in their lives in different ways: one through discipleship and the other through outreach. I did not know that these two were the saints for this day when we planned this retreat six months ago, but I believe the Spirit is inviting us (through these saints) to seriously consider discipleship and outreach as important core values along with prayer and worship as we respectfully discern together our mission in bringing the people of Christ Church and the people of Eureka deeper into the loving fold of our Good Shepherd Jesus Christ.
DANIEL DeFOREST LONDON 
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