Dear Grace Church Family,
I attended my first Church Council meeting this week. It was great to look out at all the faces and recognize that most of the people in the room had participated in an onboarding process with me. This means we had spent a couple hours together for the purpose of leadership getting to know me and how I lead. I am so grateful for the onboarding opportunities with staff and lay leadership. We can move forward more effectively by creating spaces for me to listen and learn as I lead.
As I have been listening and learning, I recognized a teaching moment that might be helpful for us. As a reminder, I am engaged in doctoral studies on Church Leadership in the post pandemic culture, at Wesley Theological in Washington DC. One of the books we read was called, The Unstuck Church. In this resource, the authors reference what is known as the “Nostalgia effect.” This is the tendency for church members to look back with longing to days gone by.
An example of nostalgia would be, “There used to be such and such numbers of youth and kids in the church.” There isn’t anything wrong in naming something like this, but looking back doesn’t always help us to move forward. Communicating only from a place of nostalgia also keeps us from having the faith and trust we need to take the steps God might be calling us to. Our relationship with God is a journey.
I am excited about serving with all of you at Grace. Everything in me is saying, “God is going to surprise us with a ‘new thing’ that is on the horizon.” Church work today is very different than it was in earlier years. There are trends we are recognizing nationwide that are alerting us to changes that we must attend to, so that we can be a church that is bridging the love of Christ to the community around us and the world. Good things are to come. Our work is to lean into the “new thing” God surely will be doing.
This week we will be looking at Mark 7:1-8; 14-15; 21-23. Jesus has a lesson about double talk, saying something, but not really meaning it. Jesus seems to care more about authentic love, than the rules the pharisees want others to follow. Give the text a read before Sunday.
My questions for this week are:
1. Where is the best place for me to pick up some reasonably priced house plants?
2. Is there anyone in the congregation who sews that would be willing to help me with a very simple project?
As always, I am so grateful to be…
With you on the journey,
Pastor Michelle