Dear People of Christ Church,
Writing from the end of my first “real” week back in the office, it’s nice to get back to the routine. There is, I’m realizing, though, nothing “routine” about trying to sit down one on one with all of you. This week I was able to meet with nine of you (including a few pairs), and each meeting has been as different as each of you. The first question that comes to mind as we sit down has been “So….what am I/are we doing here?” My short answer to that is “We’re doing what we’re doing.” One-on-one conversations are a staple of community organizing, in learning what people are passionate about and finding ways to tap into people’s individual love and creativity for work in the community. Having been here a while, I have some inkling about what each of you loves, but I’m grateful for the time to sit together and reacquaint and renew, particularly as we look forward to a new chapter of ministry together. For some of you that will be hearing more about what grandchildren are doing, for some it will be “I love this ministry but it’s time for me to pass it on,” for still others, “What if Christ Church tried xyz?” I’m also very excited to be sitting down for the very first time with those who have come to the parish since I was away. I said it before and will say it again—Amen and Alleluia to the great work that Rev. Norm Faramelli did last fall.
I also look forward to sharing more with you about what I did last fall. I met yesterday with Bishop Tom and our fellow-travelers on the Tanzania/Uganda trip, and we talked about how to tell the story of what we did and what we hope to do moving forward. I’ll offer a presentation at some point after coffee hour, and look forward to finding out what catches your imagination as for what our parish might be interested in doing…and there’s another trip possibly in the works for January 2014. The blog I kept while I was there tells some of the story, but the next chapter comes when each of the nine travelers moves forward in continuing the relationships we started.
Speaking of my blog—I plan to experiment a little with some more blogging of my own material, some church related some not, as well as maybe posting a sermon now and then. All of these messages will continue to be archived at www.ecrier.blogspot.com -- but expect some other things to appear at www.saraiwrites.blogspot.com as well. One of my goals for our parish for 2013 is to invigorate our online presence, so please let me know if you’d be interesting in helping with that. Across our website as well as facebook and twitter, we need to be more present where God’s people are present, and you/they are online. One of the ideas that came out of my meeting with the Moores was to begin crafting a social media policy for Sunday morning; yes, do check in on facebook or foursquare and feel free to comment on the sermon, but maybe turn off your alerts so you don’t have to respond to every comment immediately. As with everything, a balance. I confess to heckling one of you when I was in Uganda and saw someone facebook a line from Norm’s sermon—I’ll cut everyone some more slack going forward!
Finally, if I learned anything during my sabbatical, is how much I am in love with parish ministry. I’ve said it before and I say it again—I am so glad to be home.
blessings,
Sara+
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