Such a thing happened to me today - I am a warden in my church and today was our Annual Parish Meeting. We have been having a very tough year with lots of bickering and in fighting. Because of the situations we are facing we can not move forward and grow the way we need to. I gave the following talk- a little nervously at first because there were some truth about our parish that had to be said
When we were going though our Interim Period we were the “Little Church That Could”. While many outside our parish thought that we would never be able to survive having a priest who had been with us for forty years leave we did. We came together as a Parish FAMILY and worked together to define who we were and what our dreams for the future were. We were able to put aside our individual wants and discern what would be best for the entire St. James Parish Family. Then when we were ready to begin the search there were those outside our parish who once again thought that the task of calling a new priest would be beyond our grasp. Once again we worked together as a Parish FAMILY and were able call Fr. Mariano to join our parish FAMILY.
Transition is never easy. People who led this parish through one of its most challenging times with grace and dignity had to hand over the reigns to a new, unknown person coming in. A relief in many ways, but, also after a period of time, a loss. I felt it and I know that others felt it as well. For a while we continued as we always had while
Fr. Mariano watched and learned who we were as individuals and who we were as a parish family. Fr. Mariano working in conjunction with the wardens and vestry at the time, began to implement changes to our worship, sanctuary and business practices. These changes were not done on a whim. It was done to bring Saint James up to date with what was going on in the larger church at the time. In addition we as a parish had made it very clear in our profile that we were looking for a priest who would help us to grow and move forward to ensure that Saint James’ would still be here when our children’s children would come back to have their weddings or baptism here.
I have heard it said that some of these changes to our worship are “too Catholic”. I can tell you from my heart that they not. They are in fact changes that were mandated by the General Convention of the Episcopal Church 0-=[years ago. Remember we are part of a greater church. Most Episcopal Churches today have tabernacles for the reserve sacrament and sanctuary lamps. They also have small altars dedicated to Christ’s mother Mary. Stations of the Cross are also common during Lent. All this is done to enrich our worship together. We are not becoming more Catholic we are just becoming more Anglican.
I have also noticed that there have been a few “turf wars” going on. Whether it is over the management and use of our wonderful endowment, classroom usage, looking at new ways to host events we have to all work together. We need to listen to each other – I mean really listen with empathy in order to hear what the other person is really saying. Gossiping has to stop. Gossiping is a cancer that will eventually kill unless it is stopped. We can not experience the growth we so desperately need until we begin to once again work together as the parish family that I know we are. We need each other now more then ever if we are to move forward.
In the Apostle Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians chapter twelve he states:
The eye cannot say to the hand, "I don't need you!" And the head cannot say to the feet, "I don't need you!" On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.
We have wonderful people in our Parish Family who love this place dearly. We all want the same things for Saint James. But we need to experience new things in order to grow. Some new things we will like and keep and some we will let go but we must at least try. We need to establish new ministries to attract more people into our Parish. If our parish family can grow by two or three new families a year for the next five years we will be well on our way to becoming a healthy viable parish with a long future. We are currently working on establishing a Spanish ministry and will be looking into other ministry areas as well.
There is an excellent book by author Kenny Kemp entitled “The Welcoming Door” in which Jesus in his profession as a carpenter participates in his own parable stories. While his is building a new door for the father in the Prodigal Son Parable the door is built to open inward which was unusual because doors were built to open outwards to keep the dust and dirt out of the home. The brother who stayed with the father says to Jesus “It opens inward, A very strange idea. Jesus replies “It opens inward to welcome friends and family-an invitation to share the comfort and hospitality of a new home.”We need join together and to open our doors inward to welcome all who come our way.
I truly thought that this talk was going to fall on deaf ears. But the number of people who came up to me afterward and said thank you touched me deeply.
It just goes to show that you should not judge situations. You need to go into them with an open mind and let them play out -
