From the Pastor

A Guide for the Future...

Although I would never admit it as a kid, I loved going back to school in the fall. Yes, it meant that summer was over. Yes, it meant that soon the warm weather would fade. And yes, it meant that I would once again have homework to worry about, but there was still something exciting about being back in school. It meant that I was a year older and had more opportunities available to me. It meant that I would get to see my friends again after a long summer apart. And, it meant that I had the opportunity to put all of my worries and doubts from the previous years behind me and to look with hope at the possibilities of a new year. The good news for us as a church is that this fall we have the same opportunity, but it will take some work.

Step 1 – Gathering together. Our first step in looking toward the future, will be to make sure that we are together. Although finding an excuse to gather together is never a problem for us, sometimes it helps to make the gathering formal. We celebrated our annual Homecoming Sunday on September 13. It was a chance for us to worship, to reconnect after our busy summers, to share a meal, and to begin to look forward together to the new possibilities that the year ahead holds. The choir resumed that day; the Sunday school will kick off on September 20.

Step 2 – Looking Around. The second step in looking toward the future is to make sure we look closely at what is around us. We have seen signs of growth this year. Literally. Following the service on Sunday, August 30, members of the congregation joined together to clean up the over-growth around the church. It was an afternoon spent trimming, weeding, and shaping the landscape of our church so that the growth can continue in the direction we intend. Perhaps it is time for us to do the same thing with our ministries. The good news is that we have already begun. We committed last January to welcoming 130 new visitors this year as a way of recognizing our church’s 130th birthday and we are already well on our way toward meeting that number, but now is a chance to become more intentional about reaching out to those people in our lives who could use the good news we have to share. Similarly, we have expanded our relationship with the New School for Music Education to include teaching weekly piano lessons in our building in addition to the concerts and recitals that they already hold in our space.

Step 3 – Recruiting help. Wendy Mohler will be joining us this year as our seminary intern. She has already been a wonderful addition to our congregation during the past year, but now she will come on in a more official role and will be participating in the worship and pastoral life of our congregation. She will be a major asset to us as we set and meet new ministry goals for this year, but she won’t be alone. Each of us is being asked to find that place where our gifts meet the needs of the church and to focus our energy there. If we can all meet together, plan together, and work together, then we will be able to get others to follow.

Step 4 – Beginning the journey. We may not be as prepared as we would like to be and we may not have all of the details worked about, but this fall we will start the journey toward health and growth in earnest. After all, we can look toward the future all we want, but at some point we have to take the first step toward it. This means that this year we will need to be creative, to stay positive, and to trust in the good news we have to share. We have an opportunity to continue to nurture the areas of growth that we have seen this past year and to plant new seeds of opportunity so that we might reap the benefit of bountiful harvest in the years to come. The work we do now together will help ensure our stability and vitality in the future.

Step 5 –Having Fun and staying Flexible. No trip I have ever been on has gone exactly as planned, but I have learned something from all of them. There is an excitement which comes from working together to carry out a vision which was jointly cast, but we must first acknowledge that things won’t always go as planned. Once we have accepted the uncertainty of the journey ahead, we can find a way to actually enjoy it. We may not know exactly what the road ahead looks like, but we know that God will be with us on the journey. And, as we remember each Sunday, though we don’t know what a day may bring, we know that the hour for serving God is now. Let’s take it step by step.

Grace and Peace,
Stephen Cady