When I was a kid – from as early as I can remember and throughout grade school – I was pretty spiritual and religious. That is to say, after my mother stopped “listening to my prayers” when I was about seven, I continued to pray each night in my bedroom before I went to sleep. I recited memorized prayers and then just talked to God about what was going on with me. I even went to church before school on my own on special occasions, like Lent.

For various reasons, that all changed dramatically when I hit high school. It wasn’t simply that I didn’t consider it sufficiently “cool” to fit in with my teen persona and that I was far more interested in my friends, sports, dating to have time for it, though there was that. It was also that I found the church side of it almost totally lacking in authenticity and relevancy. Priests mumbled a foreign language in monotone, and then seemed to shout their sermons in what seemed to be ruddy-faced anger. I couldn’t be bothered with it any more.

Frankly, in my experience, “preparing for ministry” at seminary didn’t really prepare a person to foster anything more. What you did pick up was how to be “pastoral” (translated non-judging and non-directive) and the liturgical traditions of the Church – how to do liturgies “the right way”, and that, of course, completely depended on the perspective of the people teaching the classes. After seminary, continuing education often focused on what’s called “church growth” – how to help churches grow in their numbers. I quickly learned that clergy were being taught, in one way or another, how to cater to people rather than God. Whether it was the people in the pews, who wanted church to be what they were used to but more meaningful to them, or it was figuring out what un-churched people wanted and trying to offer it in order to draw seekers into the church, it was always about giving people what they wanted. But that’s not actually what I think church is meant to be. I think that a church is meant to be a community of people drawn together by common convictions and shared core values, who are interested in discovering what God wants them to do and then receiving God’s help to work together to do it. This is what I understand St. Paul’s convictions and core values to be:

• We believe the Creator made us for good, and that we’re accountable to God for how we live our lives.
• We believe Jesus came to bring us into harmony with our Creator and to show us how to live well.
• We believe the Creator’s Spirit is given to provide guidance and strength to follow Christ’s lead.
• We believe that following regular spiritual practices helps us along the way, including: study of sacred scripture, sharing one with another, prayer, the sacraments and service.
• We believe in resisting evil, but that all of us mess up sometimes, and that God always welcomes us back when we return, no matter what.
• Even though we find it hard to do, we believe in sharing our faith.
• We believe in looking to serve Christ in others trying to treat others as we’d like to be treated.
• We believe in working for justice and peace on earth – respecting the dignity of other people and of the other creatures on this planet as stewards of Creation.
• We believe Jesus taught that love is more important than any set of ideas.

The first book I tackled for summer reading was one that’s well suited for St. Paul’s at this stage in our shared life, and it happens to reflect my own understanding of church and what we’re about. It’s entitled Becoming A Blessed Church, by Graham Standish, published by the Alban Institute. It emphasizes how to become a more spiritual community and how to figure out what God wants us to do rather than what we want the church do. I’ve asked the Ministry Discernment Team to read it, and I’ve recommended it to the Vestry. You might like to read it as well.

We’re beginning our third year together. The first year we got to know each other. The second year we did the hard work of beginning to restructure the way we organize our life and work together. It’s time to move on to another phase – how to grow more fully into becoming the kind of spiritual community that our Lord wants us to be. Since this book lays out my understanding of that better than any other I’ve had occasion to read, I recommend it to you.

Affectionately in Christ,

Phil +