Why St. Paul’s Became My Church Family
My name is Mark Christophono, I’ve been a member at St. Paul’s for 15 years, (I think) and am just finishing my second term on vestry. I’ve been asked to write a bit about why St. Paul’s is important to me and our stewardship campaign.
In previous meetings when asked what brought me to St. Paul’s I responded “I was dragged here” and Paul would respond “by Patti or by God”. I believe now it was both. Patti was my (now deceased) fiancé’ and she wanted to come here when our pastor at Unity church in Toledo retired, as her father still attended here.
I was born and raised Catholic and fell away from it in high school. I’ve always had some form of spiritual practice in my life, but wanted nothing to do with traditional religions which I considered rigid and dogmatic. So, when Patti wanted to come to St. Paul’s I agreed, but grudgingly.
So, as I sat there with my arms crossed over my chest, experiencing this “almost Catholic” service, a funny thing happened. Not wanting to be rigid myself I allowed myself to pay attention to the sermon and the lessons. It was nothing like what I expected, the sermon sounded like it was from a human being addressing other human beings, and the lessons were somehow made relative to us in our time. Then when I heard ANYONE could come up and get communion I understood this is not at all like a Catholic service. This was confirmed for me when we went through the membership classes and Art said the Episcopal church is known for having “wide aisles”, very accepting, and I’ve found this to be so true.
Fast forward a few years and Patti’s father got cancer. I watched as his disease progressed and this community stepped up to help him and Patti. Fast forward another few years and Patti developed early onset Alzheimer’s disease. Again I watched as this community stepped up to help Patti and myself.
I’ve met so many amazing people here and I truly consider this to be my church family, had I thought about it I never would have thought it a possibility for me and I’m proud to be here.
In this time of political strife and financial unknowns, please keep our stewardship campaign in your heart and prayers. If you can place yourself in the “beyond the tithe” column in our campaign it can help keep not only our church family but also our programs we love alive and continue to grow. Peace.