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January 2010

“Equipping all our members for life”

           Our mission statement has long ended with the phrase, “committed to . . . equip all our members for life . . .”  Sometimes people say to me that it ought to say, “equip all our members for spiritual life.”  I’ve had a lot of chance to reflect on it over the years, and I love it the way it is.  Of course many of us feel quite well-equipped for life, and when we do it sounds like an affront, except perhaps in the area of spirituality.  But I think part of the gospel message is that we are maybe not as well prepared for life, ordinary life, the whole of life, the moment-by-moment day-by-day stuff as we might be, until we learn to live in the present moment in whatever we are doing with the living God.  We have the opportunity to learn so much about God’s ways, and to experience God’s presence in the present moment, but not until we see the need, and feel our own yearning, and so, sometimes the good news might sound like it is critical of us instead of an invitation to us.
            “Gospel” comes through Old English “God-spell” from an ancient Greek word that means “good news.”  And when do you need good news?  When things aren’t going so well, right?  If you don’t realize there is a problem, good news doesn’t sound good.  In fact, it often sounds like an accusation.  So good news is only good to those who know they need it.
            I am hoping that the year ahead will be a time of reflection and wonder and setting new patterns for our common life.  I’m looking forward to the leadership of our vestry and the work of the Strategic Planning Team to keep us in a mode of quiet conversation, and contemplation of our mission and hopes.  If we do, we’ll be able to figure out what our goals are for the next few years while we are going about the usual round of activities.  We have the opportunity now to set patterns for the future of the congregation, and how it will support us and those whom God sends to us in living the life that is eternal.
            I was delighted by the vestry retreat.  Your new vestry is off to a good start, and they have a message for you that was delivered at the Annual Meeting, Jan.24th, and that is told here in an article written by Chris Rowen and Michael Hudson for the vestry.
            God is with us, let us be with God!
With love,

 

December 2009

At a recent meeting of the Strategic Planning Committee, someone made me realize: I am so looking forward to this year of “firsts.”  We’ve had our first memorials here, our first wedding here, we’ve had the consecration which was a very special kind of “first.”  Rabbi Rick Litvak and Temple Beth El gave us a mezuzah for our door, a gift of community and love, and it went up before the bishop dented the door with her staff and opened them to be a house of prayer for all people.  Resurrection Church has had us over to lunch and storytelling with their congregation and it was a wonderful time of being welcomed to the neighborhood, and they’ve given us a remarkable and beautiful tapestry.  I’ll leave describing that to Suzanne in the Forerunner,, but what a thoughtful and generous gift!

              This is our first season of stewardship in the new church, and I have hope that we are going to come in strong – last year was fearful, I know, but we’ve some experience now with the new economy in all our personal lives.  I trust that everyone will pledge out of gratitude for all God has given, and out of hope for what God wants us to do in this ministry of ours as we make a new beginning.  Robin and I have increased our pledge, as we do every year, though we face the uncertainties and indignities so many others are facing now.  We do this because we believe in the ministry and because we want to show God our gratitude and love.  That is a fundamental part of worship.

              I’m looking forward to our first Thanksgiving in the new church, a service Wednesday night at 7:00 P.M. when we hope to get together the parish community around our gratitude and do it with the family members who’ve come home for the holiday, and have a sense of one another’s lives.

              I’m looking forward to the round of the seasons, seeing Advent and Christmas in the new church, and I’m delighted with the plans the Worship Committee and the Altar Guild are making for our celebration.  One delight is, we have more room now, with the wall open, so Christmas Eve, we’ll be able to have only two services.  We’ll do the 4:00 P.M. Children’s Pageant and Holy Eucharist, always well-attended.  And then instead of the two in the evening, we’ll do one service at 10:00 P.M.  We’ll call it “Come early to Midnight Service.”

              I am very proud of the congregation, the vestry, the leaders of so many ministries from Outreach to Building Committees, from Altar Guild to Strategic Planning for the way you have made this transition so smoothly.  Sometimes “families” get very discombobulated in the midst of change, and frankly, I expected this to be a much harder time than it has been.  I have such a sense of blessing, even in the midst of all a pastor deals with, such a sense of enjoyment of the new people who are rapidly becoming regulars, and the folks who’ve moved from Sunday-in-the-pews to various ministries recently.

              One good thing that stands out is another first. We have a new program of partners for newcomers, and many of you have made yourselves available for this.  When someone turns in a Welcome Card I give them a call.  I enjoy that, and I ask if they’d like someone to partner with them to answer their questions and check in with them now and then while they are getting to know the parish.  It seems to be working very well, as I keep hearing from newcomers and from partners that they enjoy it.

              I’m thinking about seeing wonder on our faces at Christmas, when the church is decorated with the things we love, but we are discovering them in all sorts of new places.  I’m thinking of the delight on children’s faces, on all our faces as Christmas wonder fills our hearts.  I’m thinking of the unveiling of the new tapestry on January 9th - its special day, and the wonder it will engender then.  I’ m thinking about this season of firsts, and the love of God that wafts into our hearts through all these moments of worship, and the way it mends our hearts toward the Kingdom of God.

With Love,
Steve

June 2009

Last night was our Service of Thanksgiving and Remembrance for the buildings on Depot Hill. I loved the service. In spite of the early hour we had a good crowd of worshippers and we gave thanks for many of the holy things in worship with the same prayers that were used to dedicate them long ago. A reading, a couple of poems just right for the day, How Firm A Foundation, a prayer for the silk, some prayers for those who have gone before us, a prayer that we will carry on and be faithful, For All The Saints, and stories of this congregation in its younger years. Of those who constructed things used in worship, of how we got the bell (it broke the bell towers at three other congregations before it came to us!), of how housing twelve-step groups supports recovery and helps folks find faith, and of service, learned from one, taken up one's self, passed on to the next generation. Stories of people we miss and on whose shoulders we are standing. Stories of how we hate to go, no matter how excited we are about the new life ahead. It was a poignant time. And then we went to our potluck supper and the real storytelling started. We passed the microphone around for an hour. If you'd like a copy of the service leaflet, you can get one in the office. 

As I write it is Ascension Day. We celebrate that Jesus now sits at the right hand of God. When Jesus was raised from the dead, God didn't say, "Whew, glad to get that over with," and drop the Jesus part and withdraw the divine, the Christ, from this world. Quite the opposite. Jesus was the Christ and the Christ was Jesus, human and divine in unity in some way that mortal minds can't fathom, and not just for a moment, but for good. So at the seat of power at the center of the universe is the Eternal Christ, wholly familiar with our life and its joys and its troubles, not from the point of view of an observer, or even the Creator, but also from the point of view of a vulnerable participant. One who understands us, advocates for us. Now, what little I know of God inclines my heart to believe that every corner of the universe would have this kind of understanding from the Creator, but, it does my heart good to trust that Jesus, who lived and died and rose for you and me, is "sitting there" loving us and speaking for us.

This is a comfort, our faith is a comfort in times that are full of trouble. The economy shows signs of recovery and yet jobs will continue to be lost for some time to come, say the watchers. It will get worse before it gets better, at least for many. We've lost one of our dear and vigorous members this week in Bob Vatuone, and we're shocked. Grateful for God's promises, but shocked in our humanity. It is good at such times to have an eternal perspective, and to think that God is in heaven and therefore, in an ultimate way, all is right with the world, if we can just hang on and trust.

So I want to urge on you, now and always, that trust. Trust God and keep on with God's mission in your life. Live out your baptismal vows. Be God's people, every day, and the world will be a better place for the love and forgiveness and justice to which you contribute.

Steve

May 2009

Saturday April 25th is our first morning of neighborhood walks, a chance for us to be visible, and to learn about the community that we will inhabit and serve.  Later we'll want to do house meetings or walks in some of our other neighborhoods, since our people are spread all over the county.  Being interested in the community, in people and their lives, is the relationship building that leads to intelligent ministry and community goodwill, and gives us a sense of grounding.  I had a good time this morning, Saturday the 18th, walking a few blocks from the new church.  I knocked on twenty doors and met some nice folks and learned some things already.
            Our move is a big moment for our common life, and we want to do it well.  The worship committee, vestry, and more have been talking with me about how we can do this and we have a bit of a liturgical plan to share.
            Beginning in May, we will lay a silk canopy over the center aisle.  We'll pray at every service, lightheartedly and earnestly, that God will let it soak up a bit of the prayer that has saoked into those walls in a century of worship.  And then we'll take it with us to the new site as a bit of “sourdough starter” to get the church off to a good start. 
            On a Wednesday evening, May 20th, we propose to have a service of Remembrance in the church, perhaps followed by a potluck supper.  We will remember the people with whom we have served, the baptisms and marriages and burials and celebrations, the things the parish has been through.  In telling these stories and praying grateful prayers, we honor our life to this point and give thanks to God for the little church on Depot Hill.  This won't be the last service there by any means.  We can't yet know our real moving date.  But it will be an important time for many of us.
            Then, when we get the occupancy permit for the Canterbury Site and all is ready at that end, we'll move.   We hope to accomplish the physical move in a single week, and Chris Cottle and the Architecture committee are making plans for that day by day.  The last part of the move will be a procession from one site to the other.  We'll gather at the present church, and we'll take the sacred things that come with us out of the church: the altar, the aumbry, our banners, the statue of St. John over the entrance.  The bishop will preside or designate someone to read her letter of “deconsecration” and say the few prayers that return the church to other uses besides worship.  And then we'll process, on foot and in cars, I think, with the prayer canopy on poles over our heads as we carry some of the sacred things, for the two-and-a-half mile walk to the new site.  Everyone will get a chance, either when we arrive or at an open house earlier that week, to look over the new church, find everything, figure out where to sit.  And the following day, worship will begin there.
            In the weeks that follow, as soon as we can get settled, we'll do a series of open houses to acquaint the community with the new site, and maybe we can make these a celebration of our 120th anniversary, around the festival of the nativity of our namesake, John, who baptized in anticipation of Jesus' coming and baptized Jesus himself.
            It will be sometime later that the new church is blessed, perhaps later in August, and it will be a big day, when we can invite the community to join us as we join with our bishop to consecrate the new building to the worship and service of our Lord.
            All this is contingent on the actual dates that we get water and power and a certificate of occupancy from the County.  Keep praying for the builders, the leaders, the givers, the callers, the movers and all.  And let's not take our eyes off the prize for a single minute.  We are doing all this because God has called us to share our Easter joy with the world around us, and we don't want to miss a single opportunity to welcome a person who might be looking for a community with Christ at its heart.

April 2009

God doesn’t sleep. Or maybe it is just that even while sleeping God has enough love and attention to hold us in being and to love us toward depth of character and passion for justice and that mix of joy and sorrow and hope that is love. Maybe watching over us and coaching us isn’t that much of a challenge. I suspect that God isn’t busy, but relaxed and present and enjoying. After all, God doesn’t just administer the universe, but thinks universes up for love’s sake. I’m not being anthropomorphic, but trying in a mortal way to contemplate the majesty, if you will, the capacity of the Divine. Silly reveries aside, we have confidence that God doesn’t “go to sleep at the switch” but cares for us and goes with us through all things, at all times. We are never forgotten or neglected.

That is good, because we have to wonder what good can come from a time of such economic woe as this. In the undeveloped world the suffering now is increased. At least in our developed nations we can glimpse one good coming from all this. Greed and foolishness will, for a while, not look so attractive. Perhaps many people will cultivate virtues of thrift, prudence, and real generosity instead.

In the midst of all this unrelenting hand-wringing in print and radio and TV, I feel several hopeful stirrings. This may be a time when our country gets to think through what its values are again, and a generation gets to cultivate virtues and financial practices and spiritual practices that haven’t been in vogue for a good while. I hope so.

As a parish we are faced with wonderful opportunities. For a while we’ll be discerning which of them will get most focus. I suspect that among those will be an expanded core of people gathered around Andrea to develop our children’s ministries, and another core around serving new members. Wherever God leads us in focus, this next six months will need a spirit of experimentation and wonder.

There is an exciting time in store for us. Our Lenten program looks at the book by Diana Butler Bass. In her study of lively mainline churches she found ten practices that made them vital. She has chapters on hospitality, contemplation, discernment, worship, healing, testimony, diversity, justice, reflection, beauty. We are using these and imagining. What would it be like to develop some of our spiritual practices more deeply? The imagining is, in itself, an invitation to God to inspire us. If we can visualize some of the things that the book discusses, and invite God to lead us into understanding the people who have found these practices helpful. Thinking on others and ourselves, we can ask God what refreshes their spirits and ours, and perhaps we can discover a few things that might be, for us, occasions of grace, of Presence, glimpses of the divine in the midst of the most ordinary things. When I speak these days of experimentation, this is what I mean.

I also think we need to cultivate the capacity for wonder. There is nothing as dreary or boring as just going through the motions when your heart isn’t in it. It doesn’t matter if the motions you are going through are basketball or sex or worship or a conversation – if your heart isn’t in it, it is awful. Disconnected – estranged – is no way to live. The Scriptures put it in direct contrast with eternal life – living in the presence of God, living “loved” throughout the most ordinary days makes them luminous. Living estranged makes the most magical things dull as dishwater.

To cultivate this capacity to live in wonder, we have to make some balance in our lives, to have time for prayer, quiet, refreshing time, play time among all the serious things in our schedules. And we need a playful spirit that can ask, as we go through each day, “What are you up to here, Lord?” At table last night at the Soup Supper, I heard testimony that my brother in Christ, sitting right next to me, doesn’t go through a single day without asking that wonderful question. My heart rejoiced, because, in one form or another I ask it many times each day, and have found it a practice that has filled my life with God’s presence, and given me joy and balance.

Only, when I ask the question, I have to stop for the answer. I have to slow my mind, think of how surprising God’s ways are to my often-estranged heart, and see how I feel, what intuitions I might have been ignoring in my headlong rush, wonder what love might be up to, and wonder if I am helping the situation or getting in the way. And then I have choices, godly choices, and, usually a sense of playfulness, too.

I hope we can enjoy the transitions we are embarking upon. Before Pentecost, we’ll be moving into the new church and learning how to conduct our common life there. God bless our journey.

With love,
Steve

Winter 2009

Before I get into all that is happening, let me take this first sentence to thank Janis Farmer for her two-year stewardship of the Forerunner. She did excellent work and did it so cheerfully, a real pro. And let me ask that you give your best cooperation to Sara Sturdevant who begins as editor with this issue. Welcome, Sara!

The Annual Meeting of the Parish is coming up February 15th (see elsewhere in this Forerunner for details). We will elect new Alternates to meetings of the Diocesan Convention, who will serve as such in 2009, and who will be our Delegates in 2010. At that time we'll review the year past, look at reports and budgets, have a slideshow of the year, and meet the vestry.

I want to thank the vestry of 2008 for their service, their faithfulness and hard work through a very busy and difficult time – certainly the most difficult in a decade – as they had so many contracts and loans to negotiate and sign, and this took many extra meetings and much deliberation and courage. I think that in all my years as a rector, here and before, I've called perhaps nine special meetings of the vestry. Seven of them were this past year because the building project came to the decision-point. I am proud of and grateful for a vestry with the courage and tenacity to carry that load. They have done us laudable service.

The weekend of the 18th the 2009 vestry went on its retreat (orientation weekend). Rectors appoint a Senior Warden, and I'm delighted that Virginia Lupfer has accepted my appointment. Vestries elect a Junior Warden, and this vestry was inspired to choose Sheila Challberg for that post. They will serve as a council of advice to me, and we will meet with our treasurer once a month to set the agenda for each vestry meeting.

On the retreat the vestry

Within those liaison areas there are some noteworthy changes:

We have split Sunday School (Michael Hudson) and Youth (Sheila Challberg) into two liaison
areas, so that each of them can have a lay committee of prayer, vision and support to work with Andrea.

We have added a liaison area called Senior Outreach, to be developed by Bill Kell around some experiences and vision that has come to him.

As in a number of other years we have not given a vestry member the worship area, since we need to have enough vestry members to go around and these new areas seemed critical, and I am always, of course, at worship meetings. This was my call, and it was controversial. I think interested members of the vestry will be attending some or all worship planning meetings. We have extra services to plan (including the consecration of the new buildings!), and experimentation in worship to do, as we discuss service times, worship configurations, instruments and music and more, and you'll be asked to fill out some surveys as we proceed. We have added a liaison for Strategic Planning (Bob White) – the work is to oversee a process that leads to a new five-year plan for the parish over the next 15 months, beginning with the house meetings in which I pray you will all participate, the neighborhood walks beginning April 25th with a kickoff with Bishop Mary, and bringing the results to parish and vestry for consideration and discernment in a slow and deliberate process while so that we live intentionally into our new home and its new opportunities for the Gospel. The strategic planning team has been at work for months.

Finally, we have added a dimension to the work of the liaison for Canterbury Site, beyond
being in touch with the building team. Chris Rowen will be liaison to another team that oversees the physical move, in which each ministry area takes inventory and plans to move its stuff; and in which we decide where everything will go at the new site. He is already making excellent plans.

Look over the list of Vestry and the areas they have chosen to serve. It is full of abundance! I give thanks for this vital team in this sobering and yet exciting year of Gospel opportunity.
With love,
Steve

 

Steve Ellis

We don’t all see alike, politically. I believe that pleases God. It frustrates us, I know, but I’m sure it pleases God because we are so like the “blind men and the elephant.” (No reference to political party here, it is just a good poem.) Many times we have pieces of the truth that we have elevated to the status of “the whole truth.” And with these we bludgeon one another in this political climate, with our“attack ads” and sound bites. We increase alienation without increasing understanding. But, all the parts of the elephant turn out
to be necessary.

Even more important, this climate prevents the more important parts of politics, the more important parts of community development, the more important parts of building a city, a region or a nation. The social capital to re-build is found in relationships, trust, mutuality, knowing one another’s interests and respecting them. The more toxic the environment, the less social capital can be developed, because most people won’t enter into discussions that are disrespectful.

I was lucky in seminary. One the great blessings of the Church Divinity School of the Pacific was (and is) that many courses (like the basic year of Church History) are taught to students from nine different denominations together. If a professor professes a point of view, he or she is respected and challenging. If he or she tries to teach that point of view as the one, true and only way, they don’t even seem to make sense in that context. I am longing for that kind of respect in our society at large; but it is going to take a lot of rebuilding.

One of the reasons the Church can’t stay out of politics is that the Church is one of the few institutions that has a vested interest in the dignity of every human being. If Christ died for all, we have an interest in honoring one another and understanding one another’s stories and experience and thoughts. So let’s devote ourselves to being a center of civil discussion. That doesn’t mean it is comfortable to disagree, but it does mean you’ll be heard and your chance on having your own influenced as well.

Ultimately, we aren’t just about winning elections, winning issues, passing or opposing bond measures and propositions. There are things in this election that are close to
my heart, so I don’t say this lightly. If Prop. 8 passes I’ll be heartbroken. But what we are
about, ultimately, is even more important. It is about learning again to be a people who are
civil to one another, while passionate about what is right. We can help our nation do this.


This election matters. It matters to me and to my sense of America more than any in
a long time. And I get caught up in the rhetoric. It is so easy to join in the sense of fury at
the things candidates say, the things that are said about them, the things people say for or
against a measure. I try to pull myself back, and remember what matters. I do better when I
read than when I watch the stuff that passes for news on TV, because I want to care about
real issues. I want this community and this nation liveable for all its people, not just to feel
self-righteous or outraged, which seems to be where the TV wants to take us, pandering to
the darker side of our political instincts. I do best when I talk to real people about the issues and the candidates, and find out why they feel as they do.

Jim Wallace wrote something last week that really spoke to me:

As Christians, we know that we will not be able to vote for the kingdom of God. It is not on the ballot. Yet there are very important choices to make that will significantly impact the common good and the health of this nation — and of the world. So let us all exercise our crucial right to vote and to apply our Christian conscience to those decisions. And in the finite and imperfect political decisions of this and any election, let us each promise to
respect the Christian political conscience of our brothers and sisters in Christ."1

And then Wallace goes on to say that, when the election is done, no matter what
passes or fails, and no matter who wins or loses, then we will have work to do, rebuilding a
sense of the common good, respect and goodwill in our common life, and working to make common-sense compromises more common in the public sphere.
With love,

Steve Ellis

____________________________________________________________________

1Jim Wallace, in Faith and Justice Connection, Oct. 22, 2008

***

Steve Ellis

    Good news about “value-engineering” at the  new site: Bill Visscher was tuning an organ, and he heard that the church in which he was working was replacing their upholstered chairs with new ones.  These are chairs of the sort I have hoped we'd have in the new church, comfortable, sturdy, easy  to move about into different configurations as needed.  Ray Wolfe took the lead and contacted the church, and last night St. James in Fremont made a gift to us of 120 chairs for our new nave. 

      New, these would have cost us $30,000.00 or more, and we had “value-engineered” them out of the budget till further notice, so this is good news.  It also presents an opportunity for us to do something hands-on for ourselves.  They may need work on upholstery or touch up on the wood finish, and that is a project some members of the parish may like to take up. 

      We especially need a place to store them until we get our occupancy permit around next June.  Then we'd be able to take a few at a time somewhere to work on them.  Prayers of thanks for Bill and Ray and especially for St. James, Fremont, for this wonderful gift.

      Here's more good news: A more modern phone system has been donated to us, along with installation.  What a blessing this is, and more on it later.

      Pastor Laurel is going on to wonderful things with her new job, and so that we can see her off, she will be with on the 12th of October.  On the 13th, she leaves for Omaha.

      We've been a long time working hard to be sure the new site could be built.  Now that it is underway, with lots of activity on the site and decisions to be made every day, my heart has entered into a new phase, and it isn't alone.  I'm hearing a lot of people wondering about how the new site will allow our ministry to grow in new directions and attract new people.  I want to encourage that wondering.  Dream on it, will you?  We need to meet the community and engage it wisely.  We need to listen for inspiration as we enter those conversations.  We need to remember who we are, and how what God has given us can be a blessing to be shared and received by others and then understood again through their eyes, even received again by us in a new context.  Pray that it will continue to be a journey led by God.

      I'm also feeling energized to see how our ministry is encouraging our members to get involved in the community, in starting covenant groups, and in various forms of leadership and teaching.  And in our core function, of course, which is bringing the lives we live to worship each week to offer them to God, ask for understanding and meaning, listen for “marching orders”, and give thanks for all the ways God works in us, through us.  God is good.

      In the midst of that, I had an experience today that made me even more aware that God is raising up among us candidates for ordained ministry, to strengthen the church.  Recently Bishop Mary was talking with a candidate for ordained ministry from another congregation, over the hill.  She had sent this candidate to have a conversation with me because of St. John's vision for engaging the wider community.  So we had a fine discussion, and I got to tell about our Helpful Shop, about our Outreach for Justice committee, and about our involvement in COPA and the way it blesses both parish and community.  It was a wonderful conversation.  I was pleased that the bishop thinks well of us.  The woman who came to see me is delightful and I was energized by the conversation and the vision and experience she shared, of what she calls “a church without walls.”  And it made me reflect on how blessed we are in having among us those who are preparing for ordained ministry: Joan Anderson, Lucretia Mann, and others who haven't quite entered the process yet, but are much in prayer, and much in my prayers.

With love,  

Steve Ellis

*****

Curate Laurel

I’ve been reading a book called, Becoming a Blessed Church by a Presbyterian Pastor N. Grahamm Standish. He talks about what it looks like for faith communities to be open to the purpose, presence and power of the triune God. A blessed Church is a church that at its core is grounded in a covenantal relationship with God that allows blessing to flow through it.

As I come to an end of my two-year Curacy here at St. John’s, I’ve been reflecting about all the ways I’ve experienced God’s blessing. From my very first day, the warmth expressed in your generous and gracious welcome helped ease my nervousness in beginning ministry with you. Thank you for making me feel so welcomed, I still have not used all my gift cards from my welcome basket!

I experienced God’s blessing in the vitality of ministry we engaged in together, especially the Godly Play ministry team, the nursery team, and the web-ministry team. We really rolled up our sleeves and tilled the soil to nurture growth in these areas. I’m grateful to know these ministries will continue to bear fruit.

Of course, one of the most blessed days of my life was my ordination to the Priesthood, a day full of joy and celebration, it was for me a glimpse into the fullness of God’s reign.

I experienced God’s blessing in the ordinariness of our shared days together. I felt God’s presence in the midst of hurried hellos and in the midst of discerning conversations. I’ve felt God’s love in the smiles and laughter of the kids and in the tears of those in pain. I’ve experienced God’s presence in morning prayer every Thursday with Father Steve and in so many thoughtful conversations with our blessed clergy who served as mentors to me. I will carry all these experiences in my heart for they have shaped, molded and blessed my ministry. Above all, I will carry the experience of the palpable presence of God’s love shared in the Circle of Communion each Sunday. It is with great humility and gratitude that I’ve had the privilege to place in your outstretched hands the bread of life and put to your mouth the cup of healing and forgiveness.

With a full and grateful heart, I thank you for inviting me to share in Christ’s ministry. You have shaped and deepened my call. As I write this, I’m not sure where God is calling me next, but I do know that the people of St. John’s have blessed me to be a blessing.

In Christ’s love,

Curate Laurel

*****

$$$$$$$$$$$

During the past several weeks there have been even more rumors than usual flying about regarding the project to build our new home in Aptos. The current worry was that we couldn’t give a good account of the money raised to fill a gap in the project budget. Well, here’s the scoop. There never was an error in the budget, only a miscommunication about one of the figures. Turns out I’m the one who caused the confusion, and now, after some research, I can clear it up. You know, especially if you’ve come to some of the fifteen forums on the building  project held over the last few years, that we must raise at least $3 million in the capital campaign to make the project work. We are currently a little over $2.4 million, so we need at least $600,000 more to finish the campaign. Nothing about this has changed.

Two weeks ago we realized that the project budget we last discussed with the bank wasn’t up to date with the actual budget. Our project management consultant worked with me to carefully reconcile the budgets. When we were done, we had identified a significant gap between what was covered by the original budget for which we must raise the $3 million and what the costs had risen to based on some of the delays imposed on us, as well as some personnel changes we had to make. Since this was over and above the $3 million campaign goal, we had a critical need to raise these over and above funds in order to keep the project on schedule, and not incur further cost increases.

I shared this news with our banking team who decided we needed to have a serious meeting with some of those who already had very generously agreed to be guarantors for our bank loan. Rowland Rebele led the meeting and challenged those present to join him and Pat in filling this  over and above­ gap in the budget. It was an amazing session! You will have to hear how Carrie Hansen tells the story. The bottom line is that we left the meeting with the emergency fixed. I continue to be awed at the way these people who had already made significant pledges were willing, for love of Christ and the church, to be so generous again.

And, now, about the miscommunication. It turns out, there’s even more good news. I quoted the wrong number off our project manager’s budget! The emergency wasn’t as big as I told everyone. So we are meeting with these over and above­ givers this Sunday to clarify the situation.

The result is that we are on schedule, and that the building is going on at an amazing pace. But we still must finish the campaign, and we must raise at least $3 million. We still need to call on every household, and we still need everyone’s prayerful, significant gift. May God make us, together, the faithful people needed for this new kingdom opportunity.

With love,  

Steve Ellis

*****

Steve Ellis, May 15, 2008

This evening Robin and I are driving to Berkeley, to the Church Divinity School of the Pacific, a wonderful institution where most of your clergy prepared for the ministry. We are going to the 30th reunion of my seminary class, as I graduated with the M.Div. in 1979.

I’m thinking about the ways ministry has changed over those years, and the ways it stays the same. I’m thinking about the ways the Episcopal Church has changed over the years and the ways it has stayed the same. Hmmm. Maybe, too, about the ways I’ve changed over the years…

What has kept me engaged in ministry all these years is what stays constant: the love of God in Christ and the way it keeps changing lives. Worship makes changes, not so much at a time, but over the years, substantially. Always seeking to be conformed to the pattern of the early church. Yet, for all the changes that have been and all that will be, it continues to focus us on the way that God has come seeking us in Christ.

The forms of ministry vary from one congregation to another. My first service as a priest was at St. Paul’s, Modesto, and the life of the parish was largely about a day school and about a parish-based adoption agency for hard-to-place children who needed good homes. St. Anne’s in Stockton was a delightful congregation that focused on music and children and an ESL program for Southeast Asian refugees. In both places I worked with people who changed my life for the better, and saw Christ at work transforming some of the people in wonderful ways, into lives of service, or lives of sobriety, or agents of goodness in family and community, all because they learned to be rooted in Christ.

As of this Forerunner, I’ve served St. John’s for thirteen years. I think I was  installed­ as rector in late May. It feels like a story just beginning. We didn’t think it would take this long to get the new campus started. Yet not a bit of this time feels wasted. Because, in season and out, while we are busy with buildings or Godly Play or Covenant Groups or outreach activities or Education For Ministry, somehow, in and through it all, we remember with God what we are here for, and lives continue to be blessed and strengthened and saved by the good God. A group of seven members is going to Bishop Mary’s  Magnetic Church­  conference tonight and tomorrow. We are preparing to improve our welcome and our way of including new people as God sends them to us. We are meant to be a blessing to others, and to share ministry with—them as God’s mercy unfolds.