Dear Friends,
I know it is “the thing” to say, but I am truly very excited to be joining you and ministering with you as your Priest-in-Charge. In fact, enthusiasm – a word whose Greek origin means being filled by God’s spirit – is probably more apt. The last few months of learning about this beautiful community of faith, including your hopes and anxieties, has left me feeling filled with God’s spirit.
I am profoundly grateful that the Holy Spirit has called us together to walk this stretch of our journey as people of love and faith. If you are more of a “facts and figures” kind of person and would like to know more about me and my background, I invite you to read my biography – and of course to ask me any questions.
What cannot be adequately conveyed in a biography or in this note, and what I hope you will learn about me as we minister together, is that I am passionately enthusiastic (there is that word again) about the Church and its future. We have all heard and even participated in laments over declining church attendance and, of course, church leaders face numerous challenges. But I have firm faith that the Holy Spirit is up to something.
Over the history of the Christian Church and stretching back to the communities of faith of our Jewish siblings, there have been diverse expressions of communities of faith. I believe that our Creator is always creating and recreating us, calling us into new and deeper relationships. In listening for and following the voice of the One who loved us first, we will be alright. That does not mean there won’t be bumps along the way – there certainly will be, even in this new relationship we forge with one another – but if we remain rooted in our love of God and of one another we have nothing to fear.
Thank you for calling me to serve with you. It is going to be a fun and wild ride, the best of rides. I look forward to getting to know you more deeply, to you getting to know me, and to seeing what God will accomplish through us.
Peace,
Michael