Several of you have approached me since the completion of our annual
meeting, to ask me for more details about our intention to transition from a
program-sized church to a pastoral-sized church. I know that in trying to explain that
concept, I have not been able to give a clear answer to your questions; one
reason for my uncertainty is straightforward: I don't know. The second, more challenging reason is that
the pastoral-sized church we transition to will be was we make of it...God
being our helper.
It's not that I don't have my own ideas about what we might do in the
transition. I have lots of ideas - some
are practical, others are pie-in-the-sky, some you would agree with, others
would turn you off. I'm willing to share
some of them with you on the basis that you think and share some of your ideas
with me and with others.
My thoughts for First United as pastoral-sized church include:
+ a faith community that lives out its vision in practical ways, all
week long, not just on Sunday morning. That
means each of us being open and welcoming, even when that's not our comfort
zone.
+ having a sense of ourselves as a big, extended family. We would know each other and when we didn't,
we'd make an effort to do so.
+ we would act like we have a personal stake in our faith
community...sharing the load of leadership and also being good followers or,
perhaps a more accurate word would be "disciples".
+ we would work closely with our minister to make certain our church
life is rich and rewarding.
+ we would do the small things that count in a family: eating together, sitting
and singing together in church, offering help, paying attention to who is
present and who isn't, taking action to find out why.
+ be forgiving of each other, being generous, merciful and compassionate...even
when it's a struggle.
When I read those ideas, I think to myself, "that ought to be easy
enough". I wish that were so - but,
I think we will have to help and support each other as we move through the
months ahead.
That's okay though, that's what families do.
Pat
Take This Away
You
only have to turn your ship a few degrees
to end up on a completely different shore.
~ Economist, Feb 14 2020 ~
A Week of Gratitude
Saturday ~ basking in
the sun
Sunday ~ generous
donors
Monday ~ Family Day
Tuesday ~ safe
journey
Wednesday ~ serving
at OSHaRE
Thursday ~ cold,
crisp weather
Friday ~ a prayer
before work from Rev. Paul Ivany
No comments:
Post a Comment