God of our fathers, known of old,
Lord of our far-flung battle line,
Beneath whose awful hand we hold
Dominion over palm and pine—
Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,
Lest we forget—lest we forget! – Rudyard Kipling
We should all take the moment this weekend to honor and respect those brave men and women who have made the ultimate sacrifice for our freedoms. Some of those amazing individuals never made it back home to their families, still others did come back from their service, but continued to bear the burden of their pain until it was too much. In the front of our church is our Lest We Forget memorial, illustrating that the emotional and physical scars of war are cleansed through Christ’s loving embrace, which is also the source of the soldier’s strength. Around the statue are the names of our beloved family and friends, along with our flag poles for the US, Papal, and the Saint John flags. If you have a few moments this weekend, I implore you to visit this memorial.
You may be thinking why would we be discussing this memorial on our Capital Campaign Update page. This memorial and what it represents is so important to our Parish Family, we want ensure its focus for many years to come. To that end, we are re-structuring the front parking area to make it easier to access our church, add much needed spots, and provide a view of this memorial from 111th Avenue.
While the money has been pledged in our Build Our Future, Serve Our Past capital campaign to build our Life Center and some of our other urgent needs, we still need our entire Parish Family to give in order to reach our additional goals, including the detailed execution of the above programs. If you have any questions, please contact Joe Lichwalla, the Campaign Coordinator at 239-495-2001 or email: [email protected].
You can also learn more information about the Campaign at: www.sjecc.com/future