From the Rector

Dear Friends,

Christianity is a bold religion. The first disciples were driven out of their locked room on Pentecost by the Holy Spirit and emboldened to preach discipleship to one who had just been publicly executed. They soon began to realize that they were to preach not just to fellow Jews but to Gentiles as well, and amid great hardships they ventured forth to spread the Gospel to the known world.

Jesus' teaching had prepared them for this bold thinking. He told them not to bury their talents in the ground to keep them safe but to risk making the most of them. He praised the widow who "put in everything she had, her whole living" (Mark 12:44). He encouraged his followers to seek first the kingdom of God and to make everything else secondary. He urged them to dream big and to believe deeply, to feed multitudes with few resources, to move mountains, to establish sturdy trees from small seeds.

Too often we Christians lose sight of that bold energy at the heart of our faith. We settle too easily into safety, seeing God more in the status quo than in new possibilities and new opportunities. When we do, individually and corporately, we do not claim our full heritage as Christians. We do not cooperate with the Easter and Pentecost energy the Spirit unleashed on the world.

In this issue, I am happy to say, we hear from parish leaders who are being bold, who are examining present and future limitations in our programs and facilities and who are exploring and planning creative solutions. Some of them, like the members of the Next Step Committee and of the Program Review Committee, have been hard and faithfully at work for two years, building on the previous two year work of the Long Range Planning Committee. Others, like the Parking Committee, have only recently engaged their task. But all of them are exhibiting a wonderful spirit of bold Christian faith and dedication as they look beyond apparent obstacles to exciting and fruitful solutions.

I am most grateful for the exceptional leadership and vision and commitment of these parishioners and of many of you who have been involved thus far in this process. Exactly how these proposals will play out in the future remains to be seen of course, but I am finding myself renewed and energized by engaging with this bold and fearless thinking, and I hope you are and will as well. "And now, as our Savior Christ has taught us, we are bold to say" and to pray and to do....

- Stephen

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