The 2012 Annual Meeting and neighborhood party! |
This is my "Report of the Priest-in-Charge" that I delivered today during worship - along with a few pictures here and there that I took during the festivities.
In the name of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
This year we’re having our so-called “annual meeting” a
little differently than we have in previous years. Rather than gathering after church to listen
to reports of the various activities and organizations and entities within the
parish on a given Sunday, this year we’ve decided to merge the “annual meeting”
with our annual, end-of-the-program year neighborhood party.
Rather than a meeting in the more traditional sense, as it’s
happened in the past, we’re looking on our meeting as a celebration - a chance
to show off for the entire neighborhood and for ourselves about all of the
wonderful work that we’ve been doing, and all the successes that we’ve shared
together in the past year.
There won’t be any oral reports after church at this
“meeting”. Instead, several leaders from
the church will be staffing tables in the parish hall to talk individually about
their work. Voting for our elected
officers of the parish will be at one of the tables, too. Meanwhile, there will be food, and singing
and dancing, and activities for the kids outside and all over the church
grounds.
Since there’s no time for people to sit and listen to
reports (who really likes that part of the annual meeting, anyway?!) I’ve decided
to give my annual “Report of the Priest-in-Charge” here - as a part of our
worship today.
In reality, it really makes a lot of sense that we have our
“annual meeting” in the context of a party - a celebration - because we have a
LOT to celebrate. St. Paul’s Church is
doing very well - perhaps better than
it’s been doing in a really long time.
Additionally, for special events, our attendance continues
to rise. Our Shrove Tuesday pancake
supper this year drew even more participants than the record we set last
year. Dozens of children participated in
the burning of the palms for Ash Wednesday.
Our World Music Concert series continues to draw significant crowds and
serves as a wonderful outreach to the wider community. On Easter Sunday last year we had 147 people
join us for worship. This year, our
Easter attendance was 223!
Even more significantly, our commitment to stewardship is
growing by more than any of us probably could have dreamed to be possible. By the end of 2011, giving far exceeded what
had been pledged and budgeted. Moreover,
pledges in 2012 are more than TRIPLE what they were in 2011. You have begun to answer the call to provide
for the needs of this parish, and we are in a much more stable position now
than we have been in a very long time.
Thank you.
When Bishop Beckwith was with us a few weeks ago, he was
struck by the reality that the neighborhood association put together a
volunteer group to paint our fence. The
thing he kept saying to me was, “They wouldn’t have done it if the church
wasn’t important to them.” “They
wouldn’t have done it if they didn’t feel some sense of ownership and pride in
the church.” “They wouldn’t have done it
if you weren’t making a difference in their lives.”
It’s true. St. Paul’s
is making a difference. The neighborhood
thanked us by painting our fence, but just in case you didn’t hear it, let me
say it to you now: thank you! You are
the reason St. Paul’s is thriving. You
are the reason we are growing. Our
church is strong, and relevant, and we have a lot to be thankful for. Most of all, I am thankful for all of you and
all that you’ve done to make that possible.
But the work isn’t done.
On Easter Day, with the church packed more than it’s been packed in many
years, Althea said to me, “It should be like this every Sunday.” And you know what? She’s right.
There are more than 2,500 people that live right here on our block of
Duncan Avenue. There’s not a reason in
the world that we shouldn’t be able to get that kind of attendance every
week. You’ve done good work, but you can
do more.
dancing in front of the rectory! |
When was the last time you invited a friend to church? It’s important to have professional looking
marketing, and a thorough and easy-to-use website. It’s important to advertise with fliers and
brochures. But none of that will ever
compare to the power of a personal invitation.
You can’t rely on me or the members of the church staff or even the
elected leaders to do that. We all have
to do it. If we all brought a friend to
church next week, we’d have double the attendance! Think what we could do in terms of increasing
our outreach to the community at large if we had that many more hands
helping! I know it can be a little scary
- asking someone to come to church. But
I promise - if you keep doing it, it will get easier. Think of all of the benefits that you get
from being a part of this warm and loving community. Don’t you know someone who could benefit from
this place? Isn’t it worth sharing?
When was the last time you looked around and noticed that
someone was missing who should have been here, and given them a call to check
on them? to let them know that they were missed? to let them know that they are
a part of this family? It’s not about
being nosy, or about prying into people’s personal lives. No one wants you to do that. But it is about recognizing that we’re all
stronger when we’re all here for each other.
And not just recognizing that, but sharing it. Imagine if you were having a rough week and
decided not to come to church. What if
someone noticed and called to check on you?
Not to try to make you feel guilty, but to let you know that you were
loved. Wouldn’t that feel pretty
good? We’re not just a congregation - a
group of people who gather. We’re a
community. We care for each other. That’s what the Christian life is really about.
When I first interviewed to be your priest, I told the members
of the Vestry a story about Nick Saban’s football coaching style. He was once asked in an interview how he took
a team that almost no one thought had much potential and turned them into
National Champions. His response was
simple, but wise. He said that he taught
the players to stop looking at the scoreboard.
Instead, he tried to instill in them the importance of doing the very
best they could in every play of the game.
Rather than worrying about the statistics, they should worry about the
play right in front of them. If they did
that, the scoreboard would take care of itself.
He was right. It did.
And it has for us, too.
We’ve been working hard to do our very best at every play that’s been
put before us. We’re not perfect. We drop the ball every now and then. But we’re getting a lot better. And the proof is in the pudding, as they
say. The scoreboard is starting to take
care of itself.
In the past year, we’ve seen a glimpse of the glory of God
here in this place. At least I know I
have. I hope you have, too. But the work is not finished. The glory of God can still be shown farther
and truer and deeper.
God is calling you to be a part of it. I pray that we will all answer with the
readiness of God’s servant Isaiah, and be willing to share glimpses of that
glory with a world that is aching for it.
We have such profound gifts to share with the world. Gifts that come only from God. We need only agree to be called.
God is calling: Whom shall I send? Whom shall I send?
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