From the Dean
Gratitude
When the Vestry wrestled with whether or not to have a Capital Campaign this year I was certainly one who wondered if it were wise or not. It was not a matter of the worthiness of the projects. We had deferred work on the windows in our last campaign. Having an accessible drive onto the property where folks could exit their vehicles and extend ramps without having to roll wheelchairs or walk through the grass or make others walk around their vehicles in the grass (or mud) was significant. Further roof work is vital. Yet we also knew times were at the very least ‘unique’.
Today we find ourselves having raised $915,870 with a goal of $850,000. I am incredibly grateful for the commitment of this community. Perhaps we have a great sense that what we are taking on is bigger than us and our present moment. Perhaps we appreciate that maintenance that has already been deferred will cost even more with additional deferral. Even so, it would have been easy to take a pass and say tomorrow will be better and we will deal then with things. Instead this community spoke through its soul. You once again made offering to each other, to God and to those who will come after us. I do not take for granted what this offering required. It generates deep gratitude.
“The times they are a-changin”
Speaking of the times, it is also a ‘unique’ time in the history of church. We have long known that people don’t simply go to church as they did 20 or 30 years ago. Religious practice is much more diverse and diffuse. We know all denominations have been decreasing and stories of parish, diocesan and national church decline are commonplace. Americans seem to have a high level of spiritual hunger, yet loyalty to denominations or congregations as a de facto reality is long gone.
This requires us to consider again and again, to listen for and respond, to the hungers of our souls and the hungers of the community about us. It is why we have the words ‘where risks are taken’ in our mission statement. It is why we make offerings from lectio groups to Room in the Inn to Springsteen and the Bible. We seek to find those places that connect us to one another and to God, those places that push us beyond what is comfortable into the mystery of God. We seek to find where our souls and the souls of our greater community are fed.
The Vestry is reading an article entitled “Mission-shaped Cathedrals as incubators of fresh ministries, hatcheries of mission.” Across denominations folks are realizing that the general public is hungry for encounter with mystery even as they grow weary of churches squabbling over who is acceptable in God’s sight. What I find hopeful in the article is conversation about examples of fresh mission which includes work of ‘street churches’ and among young adults. Church of the Advocate was an ‘emergent church’ before the phrase ‘emergent’ was crafted by church folks. Work Thomas has been doing with young adults for years has taught us much about engagement with folks in this transitional period of life. The article also talks about urban missioners, clergy who are hired simply to be present in the places where young adults gather. It is an understanding that we cannot passively expect folks to come to us but must consider how we go out to folks. It is a lesson from Church of the Advocate and for our further contemplation. I am wondering what this all means for us as a Cathedral both in the present moment and for our future. You can find the article at http://tinyurl.com/ens-mission .
Money and Meaning
On Sunday, October 23 in the Adult Forum we begin a four part series on “Money and Meaning.” We will talk about matters such as what part money plays in our spiritual, social and national lives. We will ask questions such as what do we mean by abundance, what is a theology of money, how does our family of origin’s experience of money play into our conversations about money, what would it be like to understand our checkbooks as prayer books, why did Jesus talk about money way beyond anything else he talked about, and is all of this an appropriate conversation in church? We promise no simple answers and plenty of things for contemplation and conversation.
Peace,
Todd