Imagine a few thousand years of life and faith experience contained in a few dozen people in a church narthex, and you have Sages Sunday at St. Peter’s.
On August 27 we took a morning to celebrate the rich heritage of service and leadership found in our church members who have lived eighty years of life or more. Men and women, some married to other Sages (or near-Sages) and some single or widowed were honored in our church services with a Rite of Blessing, prayers offered on their behalf, and a sermon that connected their faithfulness to our Sunday Gospel story of St. Peter’s Great Confession. New Sages who either turned 80 years of age in the previous twelve months, or who joined the congregation in recent months were honored with certificates from St. Peter’s pastoral staff. Following the service a social hour was held in the narthex hosted by our Parish Life Ministries chaired by Christine Smith, for the purpose of encouraging our Sages to enjoy conversation with fellow Sages and other members.
Some of our sages are newer members of the congregation, joining our fellowship after moving to new homes in Lancaster, or into one of the many church retirement communities in the area. A number of our Sages were instrumental in supporting congregational building projects as far back as the 1970’s, and as recently as the 2005 building expansion which doubled the physical footprint of our building. A few Sages were members of St. Peter’s in the early 1960’s, when the congregation moved from its location in the town of Neffsville to our current home on the corner of Delp Road and Lititz Pike, building a brand new sanctuary and supporting facilities. Clearly, the leadership and support of these elder senior members has laid the strong foundation upon which our ministries and community service have been built.
God has blessed us even as our Sages have honored their Lord and Savior in their Christian service, and their desire to live out St. Peter’s confession, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God” (Matt. 16:16) with their time, talents and treasure. Thank you Sages!!
Great way to describe so much life and wisdom gathered in one place!