Changes

 Isaiah 43:19 (NLT):

“For I am about to do something new.

See, I have already begun! Do you not see it?” Well, change is coming in that our rector Father Mike Lager has announced he's leaving us and moving back to Ohio. I've experienced this type of change before and it can be a positive or negative experience depending on how it's handled. I've experienced both a positive transition and a negative transition both of which I will share.    

The negative transition took place when I still lived in California in the church where I grew up while I was a member of the Vestry. The  experience through that process not only caused me to resign one year into a two year term but ultimately led to my leaving that parish altogether. The positive experience took place at the church I attended after that. SO having gone through those experiences I have some pearls of “wisdom” or at least things I learned along the way that might prove useful. 

The first thing is it’s okay to be sad and happy at the same time. Being human is a wonderful thing. We can feel many emotions at the same time. Our emotions are a far more accurate barometer than our brains. In the words of the movie Bull Durham “Don’t think. It can only hurt the ballclub.” or in this case the church.

 So pray, meditate, contemplate as individuals, as parishioners, as vestry members where we are as a church and where we’d like to be. The church isn’t about thinking it’s about the feeling of the church. What feelings do you want the church to have going forward? What feelings did you have and do you have about your church? When I was looking for a new church after I moved to Oklahoma, I knew I wanted a church that felt comfortable and inviting. I knew I wanted a church in which the LGBTQ+ community and was welcome like my Episcopal churches in the Bay Area. I knew I wanted a church that was genuinely part of the community and not just lip service. 

That was the difference between the positive and negative experiences of the churches in transition. The negative experience the parish was coming into the new rector search on the heels of a failed capital campaign and the economic and political fallout from that. So the senior warden and half the vestry approached the selection from a very business-oriented thinking standpoint. They wanted a rector who could just come in and take the reigns day 1 and clean up the economic and political rubble. The other half of the vestry was coming at it from the standpoint of who feels right for our church who could build bridges back to the community. They chose the rector the senior warden wanted. A little over 6 months later I had resigned from the Vestry and left that Parish. For various reasons the church I had grown up in and had been confirmed in sadly no longer felt like my spiritual home.  My mom and I found a new spiritual home in a new Episcopal church shortly before we found out her cancer had returned. The rector had lost his first wife to cancer. Talk about God's putting you where you need to be. He was there through my mom's second cancer diagnosis and ultimate referral to hospice and had given the ministration at the time of death. He presided over her memorial service left and went back to minister at the church in his hometown in Tennessee.YI was fearful that this would be another traumatic and dramatic transition. Happily the process was so much smoother. The interim minister was instrumental in gently leading the congregation and the vestry to figure out what we wanted the church to feel like going forward. 

So I guess that's my main pearl of wisdom for what it's worth. Go with what feels good for the church. As Dr Wayne Dyer said "We are all essentially spiritual beings having a temporary human experience. This is our essence. This is where we come from.”