Father George's
Comments

Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ, 

The Vestry is hard at work, the committees have been set in place, meetings with the consultants (Holy Cow!) have taken place, data from the congregational survey has been presented, and the transition is well underway.  It is a time of great mixed emotions. Holy Cow has helped to set all of us on a solid course that promises to greatly aid St. Michael’s in the search for a new Rector.

Through and under the process lie feelings of both excitement and grief.  There will be lots of time to think about excitement, but I want to hold up the grief and encourage all of us to look at it openly and honestly.

One of the things that I have learned over 45 years of parish ministry is that though clergy come and go, parishes survive and grow.  Clergy do not make the church, the people make the church.  No parish in my knowledge has ever been born from a founding rector and then died when he/she moved on.  It is the people who make the church. 

Clergy are surely at the center of a lot of what takes place in the life of a parish. Mary+, and Paul, have been at the center of a lot of what has taken place in the life of St. Michael’s during her tenure here. And there will be much to grieve at their retirement.  But, I say again, it is the people who make the church. 

St. Michael’s is too large, its people too diverse, its concerns and ministries too varied for the rector or, for that matter, the other members of the clergy team, to be at  the center of every organization of or activity in the life of the parish.  Growing out of the pastor-centered concept of the congregation is another ingredient in grief.  It hurts to grow up.  It’s like knowing that the time is here to graduate from high-school and go on to college.  It’s time to realize and to embrace the act of growing up.  After all, it is the people who make the church.

The model of the church that Holy Cow has presented to us takes its structure from the ministry of Jesus who sent his disciples out into the world in his name.  It is a ministry of empowerment of each and every one of us. “Look at what I’ve done,” says Jesus.  “You are going to do even greater things.” That‘s what the Holy Spirit is all about, empowering individuals to do the work of the whole Body of Christ.  It is, after all, the people who make the church.

There is going to be much to talk about in the months to come.  We will look lovingly at the wonderful ministry that Mary+ and Paul have brought to St. Michael’s.  May God grant us the grace to see this as a foundation on which the church will build to grow greater and greater ministries for our Lord.  It is, after all, the people who make the church.

Faithfully,

 George+