We Need Your Help

As you all probably know by now, transition means change. Part of the process is to try new things knowing that some will work well and others may not. It means constantly communicating and self- correcting.

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