The next in a series of irregular updates to the parish.
December 5, 2019
Tuesday saw the first joint meeting of Consolidation Teams from St. James and St. Luke’s.
First on the agenda was discussion of what each parish hopes to gain from consolidation. Each is challenged by desires for community and ministry, that go beyond available resources of time and money. Though our parishes are at different points in moving toward change, both are motivated by an opportunity (necessity?) to build a stronger future as one, compared to what’s possible as two.
St. James Consolidation Team described events of recent months and our commitment to explore two paths toward consolidation (St. Luke’s. St. Mary’s).
Lively brainstorming yielded a list of observations and questions. What would adult education look like? What about our Haiti projects and other outreach activities? What would we name a consolidated church? St. Luke’s has a single worship service at 10:00. Would a consolidated parish also offer an 8 a.m. worship service?
St. Luke’s has costumes … St. James has puppets: how would we share those treasures and other artifacts. When we compare our worship styles, are there liturgical land-mines? Might we create an interim arrangement of governance? What about clergy and other staff in a consolidated parish? Might we digitize our Sunday bulletins — reduce waste?
We noted that various legal and technical details may be the easiest things to solve — that the real challenge will be in how to develop one community out of two. We’ll need opportunities to dream together — forums in which we share our stories, tell our histories, and listen to each other. We‘ll need to acknowledge grief and sadness in both communities, as both “gives up” certain traditions in the midst of strengthening and growing together.
One next step on this path-of-exploration will happen on Sunday, January 12, when St. Luke’s will worship at St. James — will become part of our space, our liturgy, and community in ways similar to our experience at St. Luke’s on November 17.
Other next steps? Members of our teams will work together to plan Christmas caroling by members of both congregations and to encourage St. James participation in St. Luke’s upcoming program of sacred stories. So, too, we’ll compare our Bylaws, begin to learn from one another in implementing adult education, youth formation, Godly Play, and commitments in Haiti. In January, we’ll meet again, and share what we’ve learned.
The meeting closed with prayer, and we took St. Lukens into our sanctuary. Of course we showed-off our PrayGround (an idea that we got directly from St. Luke’s two years ago). We pointed out our processional banner, angel puppet, and Haiti corner. Informally we drifted into groups of 3-4, variously sharing the story of our organ, peace flags, advent wreath, and the like. We lingered long; the conversation was rich.
Blessings,
Ruth Anne Olson
Transition Coordinator
