A Note from the Transition Minister – 7/14

I found myself, typical morning decaf in hand, sitting on my front porch on Monday morning making a valiant effort to find a regular breath. Inhale… exhale. It’s been a long week. The parish profile is finding its final version. We’re moving forward into the next phase of transition, God willing. The world continues to move in ways that confound, with challenges in our news feeds. The turning toward summer is upon us, with heat and the mountains visible on the horizon.

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A Note from the Transition Minister

The gospel text this Sunday is familiar, Luke’s Good Samaritan. It’s simple: a man suffers assault and lies beside the road. Good and religious people pass by, for many reasons. Then a man who no one would guess has it in him stops and cares deeply for the fallen man, binding his wounds, finding him a place to rest and heal, showing him mercy.

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A Note from the Transition Minister, June 9

Beloved, what bubbles up in you when you read this?
 ‘Like a path through the forest, Sabbath creates a marker for ourselves so, if we are lost, we can find our way back to our center. ‘Remember the Sabbath’ means ‘Remember that everything you have received is a blessing. Remember to delight in your life, in the fruits of your labor. Remember to stop and offer thanks for the wonder of it.’

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A Note from Sherman

On the Third Sunday in Lent, we heard St Paul remind the Corinthian Christians, “So if you think you are standing, watch out that you do not fall.” This verse has been reverberating in my head this week, as we keep hearing of fully vaccinated and boosted friends testing positive for Covid. Hospitalizations and deaths are nowhere near what they were even months ago, but we are not out of the woods yet. So, be careful out there, and be patient. We’re going to be in this yo-yo-ey world for a while.

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From the Transition Minister

Over the last few weeks, I was blessed to visit my favorite retreat center (a Buddhist dhamma hall in Onalaska, Washington, at the foot of Mount St. Helens) to sit in silence for ten days of meditation. I’ve been known to joke—if asked for a strange fact about myself—that one of my quirks is that I am able to sit eerily still for intimidating amounts of time.

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A note from Sherman

Our context for ministry is always changing. The challenges of today are not the challenges of even two years ago. How do we adapt?

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A Note from Sherman

The Triduum—the Great Three Days—begins tonight with the Maundy Thursday liturgy. In the setting of the Last Supper, Jesus gives his disciples a way to remember him and his ministry—the Eucharist, and he models servant leadership by washing their feet.

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Note from the Transition Minister

Over the last few months, I’ve met with many of you to learn about your lives, hear of the dreams God’s planted in your hearts, and weave a story of where the Spirit is alive at St. Michael’s. It’s been–you have been—a gift, overflowing with pain, honesty and hope. In one of these conversations, one among you reflected on their experience of this parish’s practices, and I scrambled to write it in my trusty notebook: ‘Duty does things well, but love does things beautifully.’

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A note from the Transition Minister

I see the yellow crocuses popping up their little heads in my garden, like tiny flags of hope, and remember these words from Romans 15, ‘May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace.’

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Rooted in Gratitude

That is our theme for stewardship this year. Rooted in Gratitude: Imagining, emerging, reaffirming! Notice the exclamation point. Over the next three weeks, you will be hearing from various ministry area leaders and staff.

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