I am back at St. John’s after 2 ½ weeks of vacation and I’m feeling exceedingly grateful: Grateful for the extended rest and time with friends and family while on vacation; grateful for our Associate “Rev. Drs.”, Lorraine and Jim, who are always so supportive and willing to serve when asked; grateful for Lois Sauer, our now-official Licensed Lay Preacher who also serves eagerly with such love, wisdom, and grace; grateful for our great staff and lay leaders who are so deeply invested in our parish community and all we are about; and finally, for this wonderful parish I get to come home to after a little respite. You are a joy, a treasure, and a “challenge” in the very best meaning of the word.
Next week we welcome Fr. Philip back to begin his new role as Associate Rector (having finished his role as Curate in May). His responsibilities will include oversight of Christian Formation for all ages (formerly referred Christian Education), as well as Creation Care and Outreach ministries. Of course, we’ll work together closely in these areas and he will share in all the rest of what we do as well: worship, pastoral care, community-building, and administration. I’ve missed him and can’t wait to get started on our near- and longer-term goals to create more intergenerational relationships and experiences as we continue to build a community at St. John’s that looks and acts like Jesus.
Please watch your eNews over the next few weeks as we’ll announce several gatherings during which we’ll present a draft plan for a new Sunday morning worship service beginning this fall and thoughts on how this will affect other aspects of our traditional Sunday morning schedule. We want to share a vision for new ways we will try this year to engage and lovingly serve a generation of younger adults and families who are wrestling with whether church/religion is relevant and valuable to them anymore in this post-pandemic world.
These goals will “take a village” to pursue and each of us has a part to play in this communal effort, even if it’s simply being aware of the “why” behind new efforts that are different from anything we’ve ever done before, praying for wisdom and perseverance and hope for our leaders, or lending a hand to serve or heart to offer in relationship.When the dates for these gatherings are published (some will be in-person and others on Zoom), I invite you to sign up for one of them and be a part of the conversation.
So glad to be “back at it” in the joy of shared ministry with you!
This comes with Love,
Mo. Sarah+