May 2009
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
It has been almost four years since I first came to St. Theodore’s and celebrated the Holy Eucharist with you as the rector of this parish. Some of our most beloved parishioners have died. Others have moved to be closer to their children, while others have moved into nursing home facilities or similar arrangements, and many, many new people have come representing all generations of the church. We have now evolved through the transition from being a community of primarily retired communicants to a traditional Episcopal Church community of all generations, each with their own particular spiritual needs and hopes. Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.
At the recent vestry retreat held during the unusual spring snow storm, we evaluated Vision 2012 in light of these changes and recognized that many people both inside the church and those outside do not know about our transition. One of our challenges is to tell our story and be the inviting church we have been called to be.
We also were able to identify both short term and long time priorities and began the process of addressing those needs. We purchased a new dishwasher in order to assist us in all our growing hospitality and fellowship needs, appointed Patricia Clark as kitchen manager, and are in the process of working with her to establish vestry kitchen use policies.
For me an indicator of the change the vestry is committed to living into and making the appropriate adjustments with me was our Lenten program moving from being under utilized to becoming a very successful program by moving the program from Tuesday night to Sunday morning. It told us that because we are so spread out all over the county and into Missouri, things need to happen on Sunday morning and not just during week nights if we want more of a generational representation. We will continue this type of process for the four weeks of September with a new ministries program and again next Lent.
We did not forget that the core values of our parish are Worship, Pastoral Care, and Stewardship. How we go about living into our values is also under review as new needs and experiences are required of us to complete the transition. We are not unmindful of the financial needs of parishioners in crisis and have established in addition to the Rector’s Discretionary Fund, a Parish Family Emergency Fund administered through the vestry.
Allelluia, Alleluia, Alleluia! We are growing in size and in spirit as we walk together to be the people who are St. Theodore’s 2009 and into the future with God’s blessings.
Fr. Ken †
