Knowing you is one of the chief joys in my life.
I think that, through all the ups and downs, the twists and turns of church-life, people can easily get distracted from the fundamental aspects of faith-based living: Jesus, Community, Support, Growth, Comfort, Worship. I’m sure there are more reasons in each of your minds as you read this; that’s great! We all have particular passions and desires which drive us to continue worshiping together, and many of them are not the same. But those six seem to be universal. At least most of the time, I hope. If those aren’t met, then the rest of the ‘stuff’ we do can seem trite or mechanical. So…how are we doing?
No clergy/parish should be above receiving input on the daily life of their people. So far, I’m proud of what we’ve done, here, and joyfully participate in as much as I can. We try to do as much as possible to meet the desires of as many of you as possible: The open-mic nights, the potlucks, the concerts, Family Fellowship Week, baseball games, game nights, ministry opportunities, special services…we’re trying to reach everyone’s expectations. But, as with anything, we can’t know what we don’t hear/see/have explained to us. Is something missing? How are you feeling about church life—not just ‘church’ on Sundays? During the slow months of summer, a good practice is to gauge the efficacy of our programs, to reach out and get some feedback on what’s working and what’s not.
Simply put: When y’all are happy, I’m happy.
I want each of you to know how much you mean to me, to Deacon Dion and to the staff here at church of the Res. As a result of that, I deeply desire to ensure that most of your church-oriented wishes are at least heard, if not enacted. I also want to reach out to those of you whom have not had a chance to sit down and talk with me. What’s your story? How can I better serve you? How can the church better serve you? And, in turn, is there some way you’d like to get more deeply involved in serving the church or others? If I know the answers to these questions, and if I know you, then life becomes richer and full of more meaningful moments. My goal here is to promote community in faith, and the best way to do that is to know you better and better.
Because as I said at the beginning, knowing you is one of the chief joys in my life.
Faithfully,
Fr. Sean+