When you are in a canoe or a kayak, the easiest thing to do is simply ride along with the current – that is, if you are okay with ending up just about anywhere.  However, if you are actually headed to a particular place, you will need to paddle, and perhaps to correct your course every so often.  As the saying goes, If you don’t know where you are going, you will end up somewhere else.  This can be true for congregations, too.

            Every so often we need to re-focus and clarify our priorities.  The easiest thing is just to keep the status quo, but that won’t necessarily get us where we want to go.  There might be some course correction needed, and this can only happen with everybody pulling in the same direction.  Thus, I am hoping that we can have a series of conversations in order to help us to assess where we are and where we want to go.

            These conversations would begin with our purpose and guiding principles – revisiting them and asking how we can live them out more fully.  We would want to explore what our assets are – focusing on what we have, rather than on what we don’t have.  We would want to think about how the gifts of our members can be put to good use.  We would want to clarify which things can help us in sharing God’s love with all people.  We would want to do some dreaming and to ask what partners might be out there who could help us achieve some of those dreams.

            As we think about these things, I am asking for your help.  As individuals who have been given different gifts, please consider the following questions:  What are you good at?  What do you like to do?  What would you like to learn?  What do you do well enough that you could teach others?  Given your answers, how might you share these gifts in the congregation?  We do not need to simply “fill slots” when it comes to volunteers.  Where do your gifts and passions actually lie?

            I am also asking for your help in mapping out desired outcomes and how we are going to get there.  There are many questions that are floating around in the background right now.  For example, how the pastor’s time is best used, or what technological upgrades we might need, or what we need going forward to support our worship music.  All of these need to be addressed in the broader context of what would help the most in fulfilling our purpose – sharing God’s love with all people.

            So… will you join me in conversation?  This could be Sundays after worship, over coffee downstairs, for a maximum of one hour on any given Sunday.  Also, if any of you have the kind of mind that can stay focused on what we hope to achieve, I could use your help in leading these discussions.  Shall we begin in February?

            It is easy for us to slip into the habit of looking back and lamenting the things that we don’t have any more.  However, just like floating aimlessly, looking back won’t help us to get where we need to go.  We can celebrate the gifts of the past, and celebrate the communion of saints both past and present, and celebrate the gifts of God that continue to be given.

            Let’s do it.  Let’s share the love of God with all people, beginning right here.

            In Christ,

            Pastor Lynne Hutchison