t was the web site that brought David Theodore to St. Stephen's back in April 2006. That and Psalm 51. He had a falling out with

religion. Raised as a Catholic, the clergy sexual scandals deeply upset him.
     “I was drifting away from God,” he said. “I would pray prayers that I knew by heart, and everything seemed dry. Then one night I said my own prayer asking to return to God. I went to church the next day. It was the Friday after Ash Wednesday. While I was waiting for the service to begin, I read the missal to find the day’s readings. The Psalm for the day was Psalm 51 and it mirrored the prayer I had said the night before. I was overwhelmed.”
     The service that Friday was a bread crumb, as David describes it, in a trail of spiritual bread crumbs leading him on a pathway lined with bread crumbs back to God. That night he went on the St. Stephen’s website, and there was Psalm 51 again! As it turned out, the website hadn’t been updated in years, but Cliff (the Rev. Cliff Cutler) had kept Psalm 51 there as it was his favorite. David went to St. Stephen’s church offices and spoke to Beth (the Rev. Beth Wheatley Dyson). He asked her if she would like some help updating the website. David said that Beth nearly fell out of her chair, because the evening before they had had a meeting
about what to do about “our tired website”, as Beth described it to David. “And today, here is someone who has come off the street asking if they could help with the website,” she said calling in the staff to meet David. Within two weeks, he redesigned the website has been working on it ever since.
     David wants the website to reflect the life and spirit of our parish and it is his spiritual devotion and thanksgiving to work on the site. Anyone is welcome to contribute material that will help in our spiritual journey. A very popular segment was the Lenten program he and Colette worked on in 2006. For each of the forty days, a different parishioner read a poem, prayer, story, and David composed a page around the reading. There were 24,000 visits to the site that Lenten season.
     “I’d like to see more parishioner readings, personal and inspirational: Spread your light and inspire others,” he said of his aspirations for the site.
     The website is full of worship, and it could be fuller. Most sermons since 2005 are on the site. Margot’s (the Rev. Margot Critchfield) installation is there as well as hymns. One idea was to videotape a Eucharist service so that those unable to attend could worship with us “virtually”. For example, two women from Maine and one from Florida log on to pray and sing hymns that David has posted. From analyzing

statistical data of the site, David has learned that twenty-five percent of our guests visit between midnight and 5:00 a.m.
     As David continues to work diligently, there are continually new things to watch and hear and interact with on the website. During the Christmas season, there were the bells and readings by our children, and a welcoming for newcomers, all on a Christmas-themed home page. Also new, is the “donate” button. Many people now pay bills online. Now you can pledge online! It opens the door to opportunities to support the church’s ministries. One thing that David would like to see on the site is a parish directory of professionals. It is another way of us getting to know each other and supporting each other, and the community.
So log on to the website www.ststephenscohasset.org and tell your friends. If you’d like to contribute your “light” to the website, please e-mail David.