Dear Friends in Christ—
As my kids have grown, I’ve noticed a peculiar phenomenon at parent volunteer meetings, whether it’s for schools or clubs or teams. Everyone wants to help. No one wants to lead.
Why does this happen?
Part of it, of course, is the way we are careful with our time, an impulse I understand and share. And yet I’ve seen parents willing to stand for hours behind a bake sale table after saying no to leading a short meeting. Time is a red herring.
There’s something deeper going on.
Being willing to lead means becoming vulnerable. Who am I, we might think, to put myself forward? What qualifications do I have to put my name at the top of the masthead or the bottom of the email? What does it say about me if I lead and it all flops?
But the truth is, Jesus asks us to lead all the time. It is the natural result of discipleship. Paying attention to the people around us and noticing what they are good at and what they enjoy? Leadership. Offering up our ideas and our questions, even when they challenge the status quo? Leadership. Being willing to risk looking foolish? Risk failing? Leadership.
It’s trite to say that Jesus asks his followers to be leaders, but it’s true.
I want to celebrate a new group of leaders at Grace Church: our 2023 vestry. They will be commissioned on Sunday, and their names and vestry roles are listed below. Their work begins on Saturday with a day-long retreat; they will be commissioned Sunday at the 10:30 a.m. eucharist. They need your prayers and your support as they take counsel together for the good of this parish.
They also need your imitation. Where can you offer the gift of leadership? I invite you to think about your life at Grace and then move a step higher up, a step deeper in. What if you didn’t just attend worship, but helped prepare it? What if you didn’t only make brown bag lunches, but helped organize them? What if you took that desire in your heart—the ministry that perhaps doesn’t even exist yet—and worked to make it become real?
Life in Christ always invites us to offer more and become more. I pray that we all will continue to grow in such service.
Yours in Christ,
Anne+
2023 Grace Church Vestry
Carlos Arboleda—Assistant Treasurer
Bob Boyd—Worship Liaison
Keith Davis—Stewardship Liaison
Tracy Enger—Pastoral Care Liaison
Lauren Gustafson—Youth Formation Liaison
Mary Hix—Outreach and Justice Liaison
Bill Malone—Senior Warden
Dan Pattarini—Member-at-Large
Eleanor Reed—Register
Evan Robinson—Treasurer
Jane Rosman—Fellowship Liaison
Robby Schrum—Junior Warden
Andrew Serke—Children’s Formation Liaison
Rushad Thomas—Evangelism Liaison
Geoff Whitlock—Adult Formation Liaison