This Week from Mitch

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

What the flock is going on in Columbia, SC? If you haven't noticed, a flock of flamingos seems to be migrating from yard to yard...but before I go too far, let me backtrack.

Columbia is a city where, if you ask, "Where did you go to school?" The question is not about college, it's about high school. It's a place where deep bonds are made at Dreher and Flora, Spring Valley and Richland Northeast, Hammond and Heathwood, and all the others. It's a place where those relationships are deeply valued, to the point that I know many parents who have purchased homes with the intention of having their children attend the same school they did. It's a valued tradition. Columbia is also a small enough city that, through sports, music, theater, and youth groups, children end up with friends from all over. This creates a dynamic where it feels like everyone from here is only one or two degrees of separation from everyone else. I have heard it described as a city that feels like a small town. St. Martin's youth group is one such special place, where between 20 and 40 kids from all over the city gather each week to play, to pray, and, in an over-programmed world, relax and just be. I am grateful for this.

I am also grateful for Mary Clark, our St. Martin’s Foundation, and the Clark Fund. For those new to our community, the Clark Fund is an endowment established by the late Mary Clark to support children and youth ministries at St. Martin's. It allows our kids to affordably do mission trips and pilgrimages as they explore and grow in their faith. This year, just before the adult pilgrimage to Greece, our youth will be taking the same trip. While there, our children will walk in the footsteps of great thinkers and writers and, hopefully, see the scriptures in a new light while learning a bit about themselves. In the meantime, they are raising money to both offset the drawdown of our endowment and have some ownership of the funding process.

If your lawn is "flocked," or you see a group of St. Martin's teens running through your neighborhood, please know a few things. First, one of your friends paid to have those birds moved to your yard. Second, please know it was done with love. And third, please smile and laugh a bit... friendships are born in both serious and silly times. Our youth are you, just 20 or 30 or 40 or 50 or 60 years younger. Your participation helps them build the same relationships you have with your peers, and that is a good and lovely thing.

A church without children is a dying church. It just is. Blessedly, St. Martin's is not that place. Thank you to our Sunday School teachers, our youth leaders, and all the volunteers who support our young families. You make it all possible. Thank you!

Come to think of it, Columbia, South Carolina, is also a city where, not long after the question, "Where did you go to high school?" is asked, a follow-up is often added, “What church do you go to?” The way our parish community supports our Youth is just one of the reasons why I am grateful to answer, "St. Martin's-in-the-Fields."

Peace,

Mitch