THE LOVE AND SUPPORT OF ST. GREGORY'S

Last Sunday evening during the 6 PM Baccalaureate Service honoring our graduates, Hannah Sherman provided a moving speech about her time with St. Gregory's. Below is her beautiful address:

"And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. “

Over the course of my life, St. Gregory’s has formed me into the person that I am today. I have fond early, memories of Sunday school, church picnics, and Christmas pageants, in which I always played the Angel of the Lord to the point where I can still recite my lines word for word to this day. St. Gregory’s was where I met lifelong friends and overcame my fear of waterslides. It was where I learned how to ride a bike and later on where I first hit the accelerator on my parent's van. This church has been there for it all as a constant source of guidance and knowledge. I remember watching in awe as a small child as the high schoolers went off to youth group and I couldn’t wait until the day that I could join the youth group myself. It is crazy to be standing here now, having spent the last 6 years in youth group, and 4 of them as a youth leader. And although I’m the PK here and I’ve spent probably more of my life at this church than anyone else here has apart from my parents, I know that St. Gregory’s has impacted each of us here in lasting ways.

Each of us had felt the impact of St. Gregory’s through the unique community it provides. In the forms of youth outreach projects, trips to Kanuga, local recreational trips, and our more recent youth Bible study, St. Gregory’s has touched our lives during some of our most formative years. We have laughed together, cried together, and gotten through the past four years...TOGETHER. St.Gregory’s is a place which turns individuals into one body in Christ, in order to ensure that we do not go on this journey called “life” alone.

Yet even as we sit here together today we know that our lives will soon diverge into paths specially designed by God. Today God is commissioning us. A commission is an instruction, command, or duty given to a person or group of people. We have been instructed to forge our own paths, to find our own callings. Yet even as we leave the comfort and familiarity of our own homes we will not be alone. Jesus will be with us always to the end of time as we take on the next chapter of our lives. And the love and support St. Gregory’s has provided each of us with will reside in our hearts on our journeys. God has designed our lives to be set apart. We are each destined for great things. This is why he has gifted us with his love and the community of St. Gregory’s. He knows that our lives are just beginning, that we will face new challenges and new horizons. God is always with us, cheering us on in our successes and comforting us in our failures. With the power of God with us as we venture out into this world who therefore can stand against us. My fellow graduates, class of 2021 congratulations, we’re almost there!

-Hannah Sherman

Baccalaureate service | Sunday, May 16, 2021