Meeting Together
FROM THE RECTOR
After the Celebration Sunday breakfast in October, many of you gave me the same feedback: we need to get together like this more often. In a church this size, many of us do not know each other. Without occasional opportunities to interact outside of worship, those of us who attend the 11:00 service might not even recognize the folks from the 7:30 service. Passing each other in the parking lot does not leave enough time for a meaningful exchange. But, when we share a breakfast across the services on a Sunday morning, we get the chance to know each other and, thus, to live more fully into our identity as the body of Christ.
This Sunday, we have the chance to do that again. Every year, our congregation gets together for the Annual Parish Meeting. The canons (rules) that govern the church require it. As you might expect, they focus primarily on the mechanics of the meeting, outlining the process for electing a vestry and listing what reports need to be delivered at the meeting, but, if you look carefully enough, you can even see the ways in which they attempt to convey the intangible reasons for coming together. In particular, they specify that notice of the meeting must be adequately conveyed to the parish, presumably to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to show up. In a real way, even the rules acknowledge that we cannot carry out the business of the church unless everyone is invited.
Some of you are interested in hearing reports from the Rector, Treasurer, and Wardens. Some of you may be eager to participate in the official election of the vestry, which takes place by acclimation at the Annual Meeting. Some may want to ask questions about recent staff changes or raise concerns about particular programs. All of those are good reasons to come to the meeting, but, even if you are not inclined to take part in the church’s business, I hope you will come.
I think the Annual Meeting is an important opportunity for our collective spiritual renewal. As with any organization or community made up of diverse people with varied gifts and broad interests, St. Paul’s can easily become a church of isolated micro-congregations. As I have written before, I think these smaller communities or circles within our parish are an important way to experience deep, meaningful connection. We depend on smaller groups to help us recognize that we belong to a community that knows us, loves us, and supports us, but, when our particular group never interacts with others, we lose sight of the greater interconnectedness that binds us all together in Christ.
The apostle Paul may have been reminding the Christians in Corinth of the importance of showing up for the Annual Meeting when he exhorted them to honor the inseparable bonds between them:
Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot would say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear would say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many members, yet one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you…” But God has so arranged the body, giving the greater honor to the inferior member, that there may be no dissension within the body, but the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it. (1 Corinthians 12:14-21, 24b-26)
This Sunday, make plans to join us in the parish hall at 10:00 a.m.. If you come to the early service, plan on staying long enough to overlap with folks from the 8:45 and 11:00 services. If the 11:00 service is your home, make sure to show up early enough to have breakfast during the Annual Meeting. And, if you usually only come to St. Paul’s on a day of the week other than Sunday, consider making an exception so that we can all be together this time. Sure, the business of the church is important, but is there anything more important than being together?
Yours Faithfully,
Evan D. Garner