In my younger days I spent a couple summers crewing on a sail boat that raced in Lake St. Clair and Lake Huron, we weathered a few storms.
This congregation has weathered a storm: real people have been injured, real people have been lost, real people have been disenfranchised, yet real people remain with their bruises and scars. We’ve experienced real life; a worldwide pandemic, unforeseen misfortune, stress, divisiveness, and yet hope remains. Your faith in God has gotten you through the storm, your faith is what gives you the energy to carry on, your faith in our St Thomas family is why you are still reading this.
When in a storm, a dedicated crew works very hard to keep things afloat and on course, but then… sometimes you have to drop the sail, batten down what you can, and ride it out. Sometimes the storm will capsize or sink the craft, sometimes the mast will snap, sometimes the crew is lost… when these things happen, the craft is no longer sea worthy and is abandoned. That is NOT our case. We are upright, with crew remaining and with an intact mast!
So, the first step is to assess damage, what crew are missing? Where are we taking on water? What sails are ripped? What rigging needs to be rerun? First priority is to give EVERY effort to find the missing crew. Every effort is then given to repairing the leak where water is coming in, to mend the sails and rerun the lines and ropes.
Once these have been exhausted or satisfied, only then do you raise your sails and head off on the new chartered course. Being ever careful not to sail back into the storm. Although the chartered path is not exactly the same as when you started out, the mission remains the same.
Please look at that logo again. A craft with full sail, moving across the water. In 30-60 days, it my goal as Council President that we again are “under full sail” and skimming across the water on our new chartered course. A couple crew members cannot sail the ship effectively, we are all familiar with the cry: “All hands-on deck!” This congregation will need our full available crew to be “on deck” for us to get back on course as quickly as possible. While there is an urgency to it all, there also must be care to be thorough.
My dear St Thomas family, please continue to pray for this congregation. Please think about how you can help, how you can search for our lost crew, what sails you can mend. Then, when our sails are full of the Holy Spirit and we are skipping across the water again, we’ll give a mighty thanks to God and be that much more excited about returning to our mission and what lies ahead.
I look forward to working with you. May God Bless us and keep us in his favor.
:)
-Art Wahl
Council President
