Rector's Study September 2010

From the Rector’s Study ~

I think everyone will agree that our responsibility and desire is to be the people of God in the way we can best do so. For our community here at ECR, our collective vocation is the do this as best we can as this particular community in this particular place and time. Just yesterday I met with our bishop, the Rt. Rev. Andy Doyle, to discuss in detail our desire and intention to do so. He agrees that all of this involves our campus makeover project; and that it involves far more, as well.

I’m pleased to find that the bishop is highly supportive of our intentions, and very impressed with the commitment that we are bringing to its accomplishment. And again, this involves far more than the installation of additional parking lots and driveways, and the erection of a new Family Life Center, as important as these are. We need to be ever vigilant and ever honest about where our expression of God’s Love for all needs to be improved so that we can be ourselves at our best.

Currently, I am finding serious problems emerging in our community’s ministry with the some of the youngest of our community. We are at risk of failing our children who are between 1 and 11 years old. We are endangering the credibility of our claim that all are welcome here at ECR. While we have the material or are acquiring them, and have a great curriculum in the wings just waiting for us to implement it, we have almost no one to supervise and guide the children’s experience in our classes for children who are toddlers to those who are in 5^th grade. This is a serious deficit in our presentation of God’s Love for all. With no people to staff our Children’s program, we cannot live up to our statement that ‘You are welcome here;’ we are not able to say honestly that ‘all are welcome here at ECR.’ To the contrary, the message that we communicate is that young children are decidedly not wanted here. What we do and what we don’t do communicates how we believe God feels about children. I know that we do not intend our community to convey these messages. I also know that, unless we choose to express the contrary by our actions, this will be exactly the message that children and their parents take with them about us and about God when the leave ECR and do not come back. ‘As we do toward the least of these, so we do toward Jesus.’

In addition, I’m aware that we need to get better at our follow up of visitors, guests, and new members. Currently, the most immediate follow up after a person visits on a Sunday is done by me with a phone call, an email, and a letter. If the folks are interested in a visit, I make an appointment to visit with them. I try to refer folks to the appropriate ministry leaders to respond to express interests that they may have. All that done, our approach needs to improve in ensuring every invitation and expectation is extended to new members that they become involved in ECR’s ministry. We are making definite improvements in this area, and I’m grateful for this. Still, though, sometimes we do this really well. Sometimes we do poorly. I believe that we need to get more proficient and regular about integrating ‘new’ people into existing groups and ministries. We need to do this in order to have greater integrity in proving our welcome of all in God’s Name. ‘As we do toward the least of these, so we do toward Jesus.’

Some of our long-time members will recall that a certain ‘parish growth expert’ informed this community some dozen or so years ago that Resurrection did not have what it takes to grow, that decline was the inevitable path for Resurrection Episcopal. Church. I’m proud to say that one of the things that first drew me to this community was the attitude of the leadership at the time that as much as said, with proper defiance, “Don’t tell us we can’t!” Thanks be to God for experts! I doubt that his intention was to do so, but this ‘expert’ lit a fire in the belly of this community. This fire has continued to warm the heart of this community and to illumine its path forward.

Offering to one another and to the world around us those gifts and blessings that we are particularly able to give is my chief concern. This means knowing what we have that is uniquely ours as the community of ECR. It means behaving in accordance with our belief that what we can give of ourselves to others is valuable and important for them.

Lately, several folks who are members of area parishes other than ECR, but who visit here for various reasons, have remarked to me what a great community we are. I agree. Someone tells me that ECR is ‘a working-class’ congregation. I smile at this, knowing the number and range of professions represented among our members. The person explains the comment by noting that his or her home parish is not so warm, rather more snooty than are the people who gather and worship here. Again, I agree; we are not snooty.

Also, the percentage of our membership involved in some ministry, activity, or group beyond Sunday worship is extremely high. People notice this, remark on it, and I agree. We are also a community widely diverse in terms of social strata, income level, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, political conviction, ability, and ever-increasingly in age as well. People notice this, comment on it favorably, and I agree. We offer a representation of God’s Love for all that is genuine, accessible, and put into practice. “As you have done to the least of these,” Jesus says, “so you have done to me.” We never pretend that we are perfect, nor do we require that anyone to whom we reach out or who comes here be perfect. We try our best, offer our best, and leave lots of room for God to do the rest. And we invite others to give themselves a similar break, since our experience tells us that God invites us all to do exactly this.

I know that parishes other than our own have challenges far greater than these that meet us now. Our successes and virtues are too numerous to describe in this small space. In this, I am proud of ECR and humbled to serve and honored to lead this community. Both the bishop and I recognize that our Children’s Christian Education and our newcomer’s integration are two particular challenges to our particular community and our intention to respond to our call from God. Frankly, the bishop has a healthy skepticism about our community’s ability to rise to what we feel ourselves called to become. He is not suspicious that we can do it, only whether or not we will do it. This is an important distinction, and I appreciate his perspective. I look forward to our community resolving this question not so much for him but for ourselves. I pray and I believe that we will do so in true ECR manner: not perfectly, but faithfully and effectively. I look forward to the experience of our expanding expression of God’s Love for all.

God’s Peace. Jim +