Gathering as a Community

Dear Friends.

I have learned two things over the years about annual meetings: 1) that people dread them, and 2) that they can be fun. You and I can fill in the blanks about why the first item is true. In the case of the second item, I have come to believe that one of the responsibilities of the interim is to help a community celebrate who they are and ponder who they want to be at the annual meeting. This year we will attempt that by having the entire annual meeting within the worship service. This will leave us free to enjoy one another at the brunch that follows.

We will celebrate our Angels of Grace; We will celebrate our retiring vestry members with the gift of a cross of olive wood from Bethlehem.

We will vote for the three people who have stepped forward to serve on the vestry, Melanie Hill, Ryan O’Planick, and Elaine Puppa. We will celebrate that Mad Schuster has stepped forward to serve as a youth representative on the vestry. We will give thanks to the fact that we are financially stable, and that we have accomplished a great deal with respect to the ongoing stewardship of our facilities. We will say thank you to our two biggest missions, GELC and the Mustard Seed. Interestingly, the gospel this week is the parable of the Mustard Seed.

We will reflect in small groups on our future instead of a sermon and ponder these questions: 1) If you could change anything at Grace what would that be? 2) What gets in the way of you, your family, or Grace thriving? 3) What would make that different? 4) What is your dream of Grace 15 years from now? The information gathered will be given to the search committee as they prepare to continue a conversation with the congregation about the next rector who will help Grace live in this vision.

Out of the smallest of seeds comes a mighty tree that thrives and allows others to thrive. That’s the point of the Mustard Seed parable, among others. It is also what I see Grace Church doing every day. Come join us to celebrate this mission and ministry.

God’s peace and keeping,

Mary+