Every organization, secular and religious, is encouraged to engage in strategic planning. A Mission Statement tells us what we want to accomplish. A strategic plan marshals concrete ways to get there, incorporating the organization's vision and values.

Most strategic plans went out the window in March of this year. Next to no one was planning to be dealing with a pandemic. In February, most of us thought switching to elbow bumps was a sufficient response to the threat.

This doesn't mean strategic thinking is pointless. But it does mean it has limitations. In the church, we have access to a tool with NO limitations. The second lesson in today's Daily Office readings reminds us:

"Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words." Romans 8:26

We have the services of a guide who doesn't suffer the limitations of our mortal vision. And "infinitely more than we can desire or imagine" is possible (Ephesians 3:20) when we lean into that guidance. How does that happen? It happens through constant prayer and attentiveness to the signs God sends in reply.

Keeping the company of other disciples helps us to sort out possible signs. While we do this in our parish, some seek an even more comprehensive community of support. The saint we honor today, Eva Lee Matthews, founded one of the religious orders in the Episcopal Church. To learn more about such orders, click  here.

Pastor Kathleen Kelly,  
Interim Rector  

Who says religious life is no fun!
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