This prayer reflection was shared at a Building a Future of Hope Campaign gathering this past week. It captures the heart of what this campaign effort is all about: Deepening our "Connectiveness" with our God, with one another, and with the wider human family. It also invokes the Holy Spirit who makes this all possible.

I invite you to perhaps make this a part of your individual and/or family prayer in these 10 days leading up to our parish birthday celebration and Committment Sunday.

SPIRIT OF GOD, BREATHE ON US

0 God, the source of our common life,

when we are dry and scattered,

when we are divided and alone,

we long for connection, we long for community.

Spirit of God, breathe on us.

                   With those we live beside,

                   who are often strange to us,

                   whom we may be afraid to approach,

When we first heard about the Capital Campaign, we thought "here we go again, the church wants more money!"  But the closer we examined the campaign materials, it became clearer to us that this effort is more than just raising money.  There are a lot of great initiatives that these funds are going to be used for, especially the wonderful plans for our Church here at Epiphany.

Since we were part of the Epiphany Capital Campaign Leadership Team, we were provided the opportunity to make our pledge early.  After much prayer and discussion, we reached the point where we were very comfortable with our pledge amount.  For us, it wasn't about "how much money is left over from our budget to contribute".  Rather, it was "we want to contribute this amount because we believe in all the good that is going to come from our sacrifice".  We are excited to contribute and look forward to our collective efforts in reaching our goal.

We are praying for everyone in our Parish to take the time to consider their role in our campaign.  We hope everyone takes the time to pray for God's guidance in this effort.

Hi!  Is anyone out there?  The Prayer Team is looking to connect with you!