Daughters of the King
L-R Rev. Ted Smith, Rector St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, Renee Gressett, Sandra Sterling, Joann Wiggins, Cindy VanEtta, Sharon Rainey
On Sunday, September 19, 2021, the Order of the Daughters of the King chapter at St. Stephens’s Episcopal Church in Liberty was presented with a surprise. St. Stephen’s Rector or Pastor, Rev. Ted W. Smith, presented the Daughters of the King from Liberty with an engraved diamond crystal prism and read an accompanying letter from Bishop C. Andrew Doyle, D.D., IX Bishop of Texas.
Rev. Smith commented that the Bishop’s Award is a special acknowledgment, especially for 50 years of “extraordinary ministry,” as Bishop Doyle concluded in his award letter. Chartered on September 17, 1971, the Daughters of the King in Liberty “having faithfully prayed for and served the members of St. Stephen’s Church, the community of Liberty, the people of the Diocese of Texas, the nation, and the world“ therein earned the Bishop’s “love and gratitude.”
“Thanks be to God,” the Bishop continued, “for all of those who lovingly hold us all up in prayer, who find a way to quietly serve the least and the lost. Thanks be to God for raising up leaders and caretakers who see a need and seek to meet it.“
Upon admission, each “new Daughter receives the cross of The Order as a mark of her membership. It is a modified Greek Fleury cross, inscribed in Latin, ‘Magnanimeter Crucem Sistine,’ meaning ‘with heart, mind, and spirit uphold and bear the cross.’ At the base of the cross are the letters FHS, initials that stand for the motto of The Order: ‘For His Sake.’”
“FOR HIS SAKE …
I am but one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something.
What I can do, I ought to do.
What I ought to do, by the grace of God, I will do.
Lord, what will you have me do?“
A reception followed in the Fellowship Hall with family, friends, and members of the congregation. Discussion followed, including comments of how younger women and girls could be brought along to continue the work of The Order. Please contact Father Ted at St. Stephen’s for additional information.