Weekly Rector's Message

Saturday, May 18, 2024

Dear friends,

Some years ago I met Milly Nakato. She had arrived in Wilmington Delaware from her native Uganda in order to work for Urban Promise, an organization focused on helping individuals from broken families and those experiencing poverty and hardship. Milly, herself a survivor of poverty, came with a plan to serve the needy in the USA and in her home country of Uganda.

Milly worked for Urban Promise in the schools in downtown Wilmington. At the same time, she was raising money to fund education resources back home. In Uganda, education is not free; unless you have money, you cannot go to school. Consequently, many reach adulthood unable to read or write.

Milly was a young woman in a foreign country with a determination to serve the Lord and help those in need. I wondered how she had the courage to do what she did? She gave an answer in a Bible study class I attended: she said that the work we do, however difficult or challenging, can be done when the Lord is with us. In our own strength there is a limit to what we can achieve; but with the Lord, anything is possible.

To do God’s work in the world, we all need the help of the Holy Spirit. On Sunday we are celebrating God’s gift of the Holy Spirit on the Feast of Pentecost. Before he ascended into heaven, Jesus promised his followers that he would not leave them friendless. The Holy Spirit would be sent to clothe the people with power from on high.

In the power of the Holy Spirit , Milly Nakato traveled to the United States from Uganda with a plan to help others. She had experienced the transformative power of God in her own life, and now wanted to give something back. Upon her return to Uganda, she established, in partnership with Urban Promise, Joyful Hearts Children’s Ministries, a school where underprivileged children can receive an education.

When we acknowledge God’s power in the presence of the Spirit, we are saying that we can achieve, with God’s help, far more than we realize. Jesus says that the Holy Spirit, “will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and declare it to you”. In turn, all that we say and do can declare to the world the healing love of God. In your prayers, welcome the Holy Spirit into your own life and into the life of the church.

God send you blessings in the power of the Holy Spirit,

Father David