Pastor's Report, March 2008

I happily offer a "Pastor's Report" at Board Meetings. Here is that report.


March 9, 2008

I was reminded this week, through some discussions on our Disciples of Christ listserv, of the importance of always remembering that the practical work of our church board is an important part of our overall congregational ministry. Making choices about where to direct our energies and our money should be a pastoral one -- not in the sense that “the pastor decides,” but in the sense that our decisions should reflect our faithful service to Christ and outreach in Christ’s name. (This is not -- or should not be -- an earth-shattering observation; I just pass it along.)

Things are going well from my perspective. I’ve almost learned everyone’s name perfectly (though I’m still learning all of the family connections). Worship is going well, and I am pleased with the attendance and discussions at our current Bible Study series on Paul’s letters. I’ve gotten some positive feedback from the “Pastor’s Blog”; I hope that it will grow into a helpful resource for us.

Our new secretary, Becky, has started this week. She seems excited by the job, and is very pleasant to be around. From my perspective, she has handled the job well, which is great.

She and I were reminded of an issue we need to face this week about building usage. There are several various forms and letters saved on the computer, but they do not seem comprehensive. (They also do not seem to entirely agree with one another.) We need to look over this issue to solidify policies -- in fact, it would be very helpful if we produced a one page sheet of rules/policies that we could distribute to interested parties.

Holy Week is nearly upon us. I know that we’re offering an ambitious week of services, per my desires. I do not know how this will turn out. I hope that the congregation finds this week of services meaningful. In my experience, I have found that the church as a whole does not quite know how to ably remember all of the aspects of Holy Week -- we do much better with our quasi-month long celebration of Christmas (because Christmas always creeps into Advent, regardless of our efforts to stop it). So this is my effort to try to offer a different model for celebrating Easter. In the newspaper, I’ve seen another model advertised; one local church is simply spreading out Holy Week over Sundays leading up to Easter (I think that means that the Entry into Jerusalem was remembered on Feb. 24). Which is simply to admit, there’s no established way to do this in our modern culture. I hope that attendance is strong (because I do think it’s important), but mostly I hope that Central Christian feels good about these services in hindsight.

While I’m thinking about upcoming worship, I should let you know that there will be several small changes to the order of worship, which will appear on Easter Sunday and following. I don’t think that these are major changes (mostly shifting the order of things slightly). Some of them are being made for theological reasons (the addition of a formal Invocation); some are just meant to correspond to my own worship rhythms. Please let me know what your reactions are.

Here is some information on my upcoming activities:

• I will be observing 24 hours of prayer and meditation from the end of our Maundy Thursday service to the beginning of our Good Friday service. If any pastoral emergencies arise, there will be a contact person (whose calls I will take).
• I do not yet know what my regular day off will be (probably Thursday, but I will know by the end of April). You should be aware that I will take Easter Monday off (to rest and recover from Holy Week -- this will be a common practice after Easter, by the way).
• My installation is scheduled for Sunday, April 20. Our regional minister will attend that day for that purpose. I also have a few guests from out of town who are planning to be here that weekend.

You may have noticed that I have not yet scheduled any vacation time. This is slightly unusual -- I imagine that I would normally take some time after Easter. This year, however, my vacation schedule is up in the air because both of my younger sisters are expecting (one is due in May and one in September). I will take some vacation time to visit them sometime after they deliver (not immediately). I won’t be able to offer as much advance notice as I normally would, but I will do the best I can. I imagine you understand.

Our regional minister has asked me to serve as a member of our regional team in a regional Disciples - Roman Catholic Dialogue. I have agreed to do so (and I have attended on meeting so far). I will keep you informed of these activities (probably mostly on the Pastor’s Blog). The next meeting, in Clarksburg, is Monday, April 7. And we have an overnight retreat planned later in the spring.