One
of the ways that we, your pastors, have been working through this transition,
is to find ways we can share our pastoral responsibilities, which best utilize
our abilities and time.
Most
of this work involves day-to-day collaboration which remains unseen, yet it
helps us work more effectively and have slightly more manageable schedules. You
will probably notice that we avoid going to the same meetings and events,
unless there is a specific reason.
The
most noticeable difference you will all see is in worship. Increased lay
participation in our weekly worship and in the planning is a goal we share. To
this end, we have begun regularly incorporating lay ‘sharing’ in the Call to
Offering and Prayer of Dedication. We also want to give each other times to
worship with the congregation and to do other things – like help in the nursery
(as Fred did a couple of weeks ago) or attend a church school class. This also
frees one of us to spend more time greeting and chatting with some of you.
Typically
the person who will be preaching creates and coordinates the service. This does
not mean that the non-preaching’ pastor doesn’t ever participate in the service,
it just means that that person has a different role.
Most
of the time, this process works well and we have developed our own rhythms for
coordinating and sharing responsibilities without duplicating our efforts.
Sometimes, however, these new ways of working together do not work out as we
had intended. Sometimes, these experiments don’t fit some of your expectations
and you don’t really understand why. This is our responsibility and we regret
the missteps we have made.
This
past Sunday is an example of things not working as we intended. We were so
focused on using a different style of communion liturgy that we had both
experienced at Conference Annual Meeting and wanting to have you experience a
liturgy that was ‘experienced’, rather than read and we were focused on having
it ‘flow’ well…..We missed your need for us to communicate more fully about
both the process and our intent.
Unfortunately,
some of you misunderstood what we really wanted to accomplish – a meaningful
and different communion experience for all of you that honored God, the church
and the opportunity for sacramental grace at Christ’s table. Instead, some
assumed that there was some negative motivation in not having Fred serve as an
officiant. This was truly not the case.
Now
for your help….. as we continue to try new things, we clearly know that some
will work and others won’t. When you notice something that troubles you, come
to either of us. We want to know what you think and we welcome a chance for
dialogue. Please know we are certainly
willing to admit when something didn’t work.
This
time of transition and
experimentation is such a great opportunity for all of us to imagine and explore the many ways we are already a strong
church and to discover some new ways we can build on those strengths. So join
us in this journey – we don’t expect perfection from each other and we hope you
won’t either. We just want to prepare Christ Church for the next chapter in our
amazing life together in the Body of Christ. To do this, we really do need your
help – we are all on this journey together!
Blessings
& Peace – Fred & Laura Lee
