Stewardship Minutes

James Harris

Hello, my name is James Harris and I’ve been asked to talk to you about my contributions to the St. Nicholas community. For the last four years I have been a member of the Folk Group that sings every Sunday at this mass. In my usual style, I missed all the try-out dates for Folk Group and only through the grace of Peg Bartolatta was I able to try out late and join the group. The try-out consists of singing happy birthday. You may understand how bad of a singer I was when I say I almost failed. A few weeks after I joined it occurred to me that I might serve the group better by playing guitar. I wasn’t particularly good at that either, but at least I was less likely to cause problems from the guitar section. As the year progressed, I slowly but surely improved with huge amounts of help from Tony, Jack and Tim, the other guitarists. By spring of my freshman year I was actually useful to the group. I think this illustrates how my commitment to the Folk Group has been an enriching way for me to serve my community and God. My skill with the guitar wasn’t the only thing that the Folk Group helped me with either. The other members led me by example to a new relationship with God and a much stronger faith. On top of that, playing guitar for mass has brought me more joy than I deserve. The only way I can even begin to repay the community for all of the help it has provided me is to play a few chords and sing badly when needed. However, I welcome the opportunity to live the ideal of stewardship that the St. Nicholas community has shown me since my family began attending this parish in 1995.

As well as playing guitar with the Folk Group, I have worked for the last two years on the Antioch youth retreat. Once again, the retreat experience has given me much more than I can hope to give back. As a member of the team on the retreats, I have given some of the talks that are the cornerstone of the entire experience. Anyone who wants to be confirmed is required to attend a retreat so we see quite a few people who don’t want to come to the retreat. Seeing the vast majority of these people change their minds as the weekend progresses is an absolutely wonderful sight that makes the weeks of preparation and trepidation over a talk more than worthwhile. Antioch is another opportunity for me to serve my community and a very rewarding experience.

I urge each and every one of you to get involved in some ministry. Everyone has some talent that is needed in this community and if don’t think you have a talent you may be surprised as I was to find that you can play guitar, sing, and relate well to kids. But you will never know until you try so give it a shot. Thank you.