From the Rector:
I write this on July 17 as the Wades prepare to leave for a much desired vacation together as a family. We will go to the beach in Florida, visit family there and in Alabama, and attend a wedding in Jackson, Mississippi. I will be back in the office on August 9. In the meantime, call on your staff as needed. Susan and Kevin will respond to pastoral needs and emergencies and Dave Bowman will handle office management. We are so blessed to have a confident, competent and caring staff. I am proud of each and every one of them!
I hope that by now you have had the opportunity to meet Kevin and Heather Schubert. I am so pleased that Kevin has come “on board.” I am certain that he will be a strong pastoral leader for our parish and that our youth and young adult ministries will thrive under his leadership.
After the seemingly frenzied attention to the Building on Our Sure Foundation Campaign this past spring, we have rested and perhaps lost a little momentum. I am responsible for that. I wanted to give us all a break for a while. However, there is much new construction and renovation planning taking place behind the scenes and Kevin McGillicuddy has written an update in this edition of the Word. We are looking ahead now to the Operating Budget for 2008, and you will be hearing more about that next month.
Finally, I want to share a few comments about my July 15 sermon – “who is my neighbor?” In that sermon, I cited a few articles that described a paradox – most Americans consider pluralism and racial integration to be socially desirable. The same people report greater daily fears and deeper desires to associate with people that look and act in ways that indicate they share their basic values. Here are some of the comments I received:
“Most people I know under the age of 30 are not uncomfortable with pluralism and have no felt needs to be with people that look like themselves (the social principle of homogeneity). That article is addressing the attitudes of older people”
“Thank you, Merrill, for encouraging us to not hunker down in our houses and to expand our vision of “neighbor.”
“If it was intended to be a sermon about immigration in America it was too simplistic.”
The meaning of all communication is the response it elicits. Preaching is such an adventure. The Kingdom of God can be scary for us. Do we dare even attempt to love as Jesus loves, fearlessly, in such a way to render our cherished fears and prejudices as meaningless? Shouldn’t we fear or avoid people that we deem dangerous or undesirable? Alternatively, is “who is my neighbor” only a rhetorical question to be analyzed safely in the comfort of our homes and churches?
The above, largely unresolved, questions are on my mind today.
Thank you for being on this Christian adventure with me. I gratefully acknowledge and give thanks that I have now served as your rector for 5 years. What a lucky priest I am – and to share this with such great clergy colleagues as Susan, Kevin, Jim, Joe, Jerry, and Chuck is a blessing that I cherish daily. Thank you all!
Faithfully, Merrill
