Grace and peace to each of you wherever you may be this week. As I write, I’m looking forward to gathering this afternoon with our vestry, nominating committee, and Canon Sally Ulrey from the Diocese of Atlanta.
On the agenda will be a review and discussion of the interpreted results from the Congregational Assessment Tool (CAT) survey. The nominating committee will use these results to create the Parish Profile, and the vestry will utilize the CAT results for long-range strategic planning purposes. This is a key moment on our journey toward calling our new rector. I am so very proud of the good work you are all doing in this season.
Thank you, to each of you who have contributed to this survey, and in all the ways you serve Holy Family…including our intrepid Grounds Crew working in the summer heat and humidity; and our Flower Guild, Choir, Outreach, Hospitality, Worship, and Parish Life committees, and on and on, all the many ways you give so much to our beloved parish. I’ve been thinking lately about all those who came before us at Holy Family, with its rich history of both trials and moments of uncertainty, as well as resilience, grace, and a strong and steadfast spirit. I am so grateful for our Holy Family, and I am hopeful that the good work we have been called to do in this moment will bring us into a hopeful future.
Jesus encouraged us to become like little children, and regardless of our vision for the “kingdom,” (I prefer “kin-dom”) our willingness to do this finds encouragement from other sources as well. This is a perspective we can cultivate. Poets can help us remember the importance of our deepest, core values as Christians, Episcopalians, and as the ministers—and we are all ministers of the church—at our beloved parish. Our willingness to have the fresh eyes of children can be profoundly important during times of change.
RS Thomas was a Welsh, Anglican priest who, while highly educated, served rural congregations his entire life. His poem “Luminary” reveals a deep, abiding faithfulness amid the vicissitudes of parish life in the sometimes harsh Welsh countryside, and a childlike commitment to remember what is most important:
My luminary,
my morning and evening
star. My light at noon
when there is no sun
and the sky lowers. My balance
of joy in a world
that has gone off joy’s
standard. Yours the face
that young I recognised
as though I had known you
of old. Come, my eyes
said, out into the morning
of a world whose dew
waits for your footprint.
Before a green altar
with the thrush for priest
I took those gossamer
vows that neither the Church
could stale nor the Machine
tarnish, that with the years
have grown hard as flint,
lighter than platinum
on our ringless fingers.
Thomas is asking us to keep our eyes on the prize—to honor our commitments to those vows that can guide and sustain us, especially during times of transition and uncertainty.
Shoshin (Japanese: 初心) is a concept from Zen Buddhism meaning “beginner’s mind.” This, too, is a reminder to have a childlike faithfulness. It refers to having an attitude of openness, eagerness, and lack of preconceptions during seasons of change, just as a beginner would. The term is especially used in the study of Zen Buddhism and Japanese martial arts and was popularized in Japan by Shunryū Suzuki’s 1970 book Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind….The practice of shoshin acts as a counter to the hubris and closed-mindedness often associated with thinking of oneself as an expert. This includes the Einstellung effect, where a person becomes so accustomed to a certain way of doing things that they do not consider or acknowledge new ideas or approaches. The word shoshin is a combination of sho (Japanese: 初), meaning “beginner” or “initial”, and shin (Japanese: 心), meaning “mind”. So often in the church, we hear ourselves say “We’ve always done it this way,” when in fact being open to new opportunities may allow us to co-participate in the movement of the Holy Spirit in Her wisdom, leading us to new possibilities.
This lovely poem by William Stafford is a reminder to us to remember where we have come from, and be open to where God may be leading us:
There’s a thread you follow. It goes among
things that change. But it doesn’t change.
People wonder about what you are pursuing.
You have to explain about the thread.
But it is hard for others to see.
While you hold it you can’t get lost.
Tragedies happen; people get hurt
or die; and you suffer and get old.
Nothing you do can stop time’s unfolding.
You don’t ever let go of the thread.
~ William Stafford
Let’s covenant to remember and honor our “ancestors” at Holy Family, and in the church, as we move forward. No matter the challenges we and the church may be facing, let’s remember the thread of our faith, and adopt a “beginner’s mind” as we trust the process;
5 Therefore, since we are justified by faith, wea have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have obtained accessb to this grace in which we stand; and wec boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. 3 And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us. (Romans 5:1-5)
I’ll catch you later on down the trail, and I hope to see you in church! Bill+