From Jan 31: Annual Meeting

Dear People of Christ Church,

Thanks to everyone who showed up for the annual meeting on Sunday, and special thanks to all those who shared such great ideas in our visioning conversation! We have much to do together, and it's exciting to welcome new fellow-travellers into our midst. Welcome to new "registered" members Gennaro "Jerry" Simeone, Debbie Robinson, Amanda Gee, Jeanette Asadoorian, Robert Doherty, Emma Atwood, Rob Atwood, Doug Whittington (Christine signed last year), Maureen Keleher, and Dan Keleher. We'll have the book out this Sunday, too, for those who couldn't make it last Sunday.

One of the words that came out of our "building our resources" group was the word "audit." When you think about the IRS, audits don't sound very inspiring; they sound frankly adversarial. But the group was thinking of something different-an audit of where our ministries are and what we are called to do. How are we focusing our energy as a community? Are we putting our resources-time, talent, and skill-where the Holy Spirit is leading us? How are we welcoming the passion and gifts of newcomers? Can we really do what we've set out to do, or do we need depth in favor of breadth?

At baptism, each of us is "ordained" into the Christian life and given a mission, as laid out in the covenant we promise to support. To "seek and serve Christ in all persons," to "strive for justice and peace," to share in Christ's "apostles' teaching and fellowship" (i.e, the church). That is your job as individual Christians, and that's our job as a church. So what is your own "audit" process? In my own life, I'm looking toward Lent, which now is just ten days away. My sabbatical was a time of renewal, to be sure, and now that I'm back on the ground, I'm happy to put some of that new energy and clarity into action-as well as being thankful for that season coming up as a reminder to slow down a little.

One of the gifts of creating the opportunity to sit down with everyone is to check on how you are doing in your own ministries and how you might be called to enter into new ones.   Absolutely everyone has a ministry; the trick is to find how the shape of your life and the shape of the life of the church and the world can meet. This is not an easy thing; I know what it's like to balance jobs and kids and community. Just last night I was torn between going to my son's school PTO meeting and going to an ecumenical clergy gathering... I ended up skipping them both and sat with a friend and her new baby instead. But if you think you might have half an hour once in a while, let the altar guild know if you want to stop by and lend your efforts to polishing. If you have fifteen minutes, maybe you could stop by after a community group has used our space and make sure everything is locked up. If you have a few hours, maybe you could cook a meal for the Day Center and drop it off so the next volunteer can serve it. Maybe you have a Tuesday night free, so you can come to our Lent series starting on February 19. Maybe the best you have to give is five minutes of prayer-and maybe those five minutes will change your life and the life of the church. Nothing is wasted in the service of God. So many people have such powerful ministries in this place-750 Main Street over the years has been held afloat by an ocean of prayer (and some tears, too). We need the church, and the church needs us. From wardens and vestry to altar guild to our so-vibrant-it-shakes-the-walls children's ministries, thank you! It's a little like Byron said in his stewardship talk-we have enough money; it's just in our pockets. We have enough time, too-it's right there in our calendars.

Blessings,

Sara+

p.s. When did you last invite someone to church? The names of people to fill our pews are in your address book-maybe start with the pancake supper?

April 20: Episcopal Priest Barbie

Last week, I received an invitation to go on the Callie Crossley show. Crossley hosts an hourlong interview show on WGBH (89.7, weekdays at 1:00), and I'll be going on tomorrow (Wednesday, April 21) with the Rev. Julie Blake Fisher, creator of the facebook group "Friends of Episcopal Church Barbie" and rector of Christ Church Kent, Ohio. I had noticed "Rev. Barbie" online before, but hadn't really looked at it until I got the call from the radio show.

Barbie, rector of St Barbara's By the Sea (in Malibu, of course) has been getting quite a bit of press-both from those who think it's cute and funny, and those who think it's mocking and ridiculous. Of course, Barbie herself is kind of a freighted question; she's reinforcement for all the unhealthy body image stuff that girls and women experience in our culture, but she's also such an iconic image of American childhood. I had Barbies, and my son always looks at the dolls in the store. (The other day, we noticed that astronaut Barbie, first introduced in 1965, is back) Blake Fisher has put together a full sacristy of vestments and equipment, right down to the thurible. She put it together as a hobby and an ordination gift for a friend of hers; it's not quite available at your local big box store.

I find it fascinating that this is getting so much press; if I'm a priest, and I'm a woman, why shouldn't Barbie get to be one, too? Instead, I've read comments about how ordination just "doesn't stick to a woman"--it slips off, like Teflon. Or, they call her a "priestess," and talk about how it's debasing the church. I forget that there is such vitriol in some corners of the world for who I am and what I do. I grew up in a church that had a woman priest when I was in high school, and I never thought the ministry was closed to me for that reason. I had all kinds of other critiques and questions for the church when I was growing up, but my own gender (as far as ordination went) wasn't one. I came to Christ Church almost five years ago and wondered what it would be like to be in a place where there had never been women clergy before. Once I was here, though, I became your pastor, not just the person behind the altar, and we do pretty well together! There is plenty of sexism in the world and I think my eyes are pretty open to it, but this is one place where I just haven't really felt it once we got to know each other. As a female leader in the church, I'm glad to be able to give to girls the same gift given to me-the sense that this is normal, that there is no part of God's work here on earth that is not open to us.


So hopefully Rev. Barbie is an entryway into a broader conversation about women in ministry. Even with a female presiding bishop, we still have a long way to go in the church. There is still a stained glass ceiling! Women still tend to get called to more marginal churches, and are still more often in part time work. I was so excited when Trinity Boston, called Anne Bonnyman to be their rector; they're one of the largest in the country, and that is surely a good sign. With the consecration of Mary Glasspool as bishop suffragan of the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles coming up, it's notable that not only is there no comment that she's a woman, the amount of comment that she's a lesbian is less than we would have thought as well.


So here we are, getting on with our work together, men and women, young and old. This Sunday, our "GPS" (God's People Serving) Ministry Discernment Group will host a session for the congregation to do an Appreciative Inquiry conversation. You might remember in 2009 when we did this as part of the rector search process. This time, it will be an effort to help us craft a mission statement for the church and chart some strategic goals for the next several years. What is it that makes Christ Church special to you? Please stay for a while longer on Sunday to be part of this. Contact Jonathan Duce or Marcia Luce if you would like to give your input but won't be here this week.


Blessings,
Sara+


The Callie Crossley Show on WGBH

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