At The Center
FROM THE RECTOR
Over the next few days, St. Paul’s will celebrate its 175th anniversary as a parish. Although Episcopalians began worshipping in Fayetteville several years before our congregation was officially organized, we became St. Paul’s Parish Church on May 23, 1848. Records of that first parish meeting, which describe how the congregation gathered in the local schoolhouse and elected its first wardens, suggest that, as with any new endeavor, starting a church required deep commitment from all those who were present.
Ever since, St. Paul’s has been at the center of our lives. Births and baptisms, confirmations and first communions, marriages and funerals—the church we love has been a touchstone for thousands of people in the most important moments of their lives. More than that, our church has been located in the center of this community both geographically and spiritually—a congregation of faithful people whose lives embody the heart of Fayetteville for almost two centuries.
This anniversary celebration is more than an opportunity to pat ourselves on the back for a job well done. We gather to give thanks to God for all that has been accomplished through the people of St. Paul’s across the generations. We come to remember the sacrifice of those who have gone before us and to recognize the ways in which we stand upon their shoulders. We also come together to celebrate the ways in which God has enabled us to be a source of hope and love and transformation in the community. Over the years, our identity has always focused as much outward as inward, and we trust that will continue to be the case for years to come.
One way that we can honor our calling to be a place of prayer for all people is to bring our prayers out into the world around us. This Saturday, we will do that literally and symbolically by walking around the historic boundary of the parish and praying along the way. We will start at the front of the church on East Avenue and walk down Dickson Street to the Razorback Greenway, which connects with Gregg Avenue. Then we will head past the library to South Street before heading all the way across Archibald Yell Boulevard to College Avenue. As long as we can navigate the road construction, we will climb up College Avenue back to Dickson Street and finish our procession back at the front of the church.
During that two-mile procession, we will stop several times to hear a passage of scripture and to pray for our community. We will pray for those who provide food and healthcare, for business and industry, for the arts and education, and for community leaders and other public servants. We will pray for seasonable weather, the protection of the environment, and the right use of the resources God has entrusted to us. After processing around the boundary of the parish, we will finish by entering into the church and, as we recite the Great Litany and celebrate Holy Eucharist, bring with us into God’s heart the needs of the whole community.
This ancient practice, known as a rogation procession, originates from an understanding that the church is always at the center of public life. The term “parish,” used both geographically and congregationally, reflects the overlap between the identity of a church and the life of the surrounding community. In our Anglican tradition, the annual “beating of the bounds” was a way for the established Church of England both to demonstrate its care for the people within its boundary and assert its authority over them. In our case, we make no claim to such authority, but we do accept the responsibility to care for everyone in the community regardless of their religious identity.
Many of us have heard people say, “I don’t go to church, but if I did I would go to St. Paul’s.” In a sense, we accept those words as an invitation to care for everyone around us whether they call St. Paul’s their church home or not. We are a church that carries out its mission at the center of the life we all share. We hold a radical understanding of the Incarnation—God’s decision to love us and save us by becoming one of us. Because of what God has done for us, we are led into deep, mutual relationships with others not by thinking of them as outsiders in need of what we have but as siblings with whom we share this journey.
As we celebrate 175 years of faithfulness as St. Paul’s Parish Church, let us embrace again our calling to be a church for this community. Thankfully, we are not alone in that work, but we must strive always to make it our own. May the next 175 years be an echo of what has happened in our past as we seek to be faithful to this community by being faithful to God.
Yours Faithfully,
Evan D. Garner