Long Range Planning: mucking about

Last night we held the second of three meetings on our Long Range Planning review. We had a good turnout -- about  22 people showed up.

I thought it was a very helpful meeting. The purpose of the meeting was not to come to any decision, but to discuss our options for Long Range Planning. Our discussion was respectful and lively, with healthy participation from everyone.

I heard a number of things expressed:

• Several people expressed their concern that we not go into debt or get over our heads financially.
• Some people encouraged us to "have faith" and expressed a desire for leadership to step out with a clear building vision for others to follow.
• A number of suggestions were made regarding renovation of our present buildings.
• There was quite a bit of interest in purchasing new property, even if we couldn't build on it at this time.
• There was some frustration expressed over the decline of the Episcopal Church and our inability to grow.
• "Doing nothing" was not seen as a viable option.
• The architect's plans from the Feasibility Study didn't seem to draw a lot of interest.

All in all, we mucked around in the messy business of sorting things out. I believe this is a necessary part of a building process. Before we can ask our parish members to agree on a building plan, we have to have considerable discussion, conversation, debate, and reflection first. I thought we made a good beginning of that last night.

Here are the options we listed for Long Range Planning:

• Do nothing
• Set a threshold to aim at before we build
• Establish the minimum we need to have and work toward that
• Buy new property and come up with a plan in phases
• Do creative fundraising
• Generate excitement
• Renovate our present structures - with a price tag

We made a list of our needs:

• Visibility - we need to look like a church
• Educational facilities
• A parish hall for fellowship
• Playground
• Childcare near worship
• Good entrance

It was a good meeting and I appreciate the efforts of everyone who participated.

Bishop by example

I noticed a few things when our bishop visited a week ago:

1. Instead of bringing elaborate episcopal robes with him, he chose to wear one of the chasubles from the closet in our sacristy. That's a powerful message that he's one of us. He's not some high and mighty figure coming from on high to tell us what to do, but he's part of our parish life.

2. At both services, he chased down the ushers so that he could put money in the offering plates. He explained that it's important for the clergy as well as everyone else to put money in the plate every time it comes around. He lives what he preaches.

3. In the Eucharistic Prayer at the 10:00 service, he altered the prayer slightly to say, "Grant that we may find our inheritance with the Blessed Virgin Mary, with patriarchs, matriarchs, prophets, and martyrs..." He added the word "matriarchs" to the prayer to recognize the holy women who have been part of the faith since the beginning.  A nice touch.

Bishop Greg is accessible, human, and honest. It was good to have him here.
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Scheduling for 2013

The next Bishop's visitation is now scheduled for January 20, 2013!!

That seems like an awfully long time in the future, but Bishop Greg says that he's now scheduling his visitations on a rolling basis. So as soon as he visits one congregation, he schedules their next visit, three years out.

The nice thing about our next visitation is that it's near the Feast Day of St. Antony, January 17. So we can celebrate our patronal feast day when the bishop comes to visit. That should be fun!
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Baptizing Benjamin

On Sunday we baptized Benjamin and now he belongs to Christ. It was such a joy to hold this young fellow and say the words of baptism as I poured water on his forehead. "Benjamin, I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit."

Bishop Greg anointed him with oil and said, "Benjamin, you are sealed with the Holy Spirit and marked as Christ's own forever." Benjamin's parents, Laura and Charles, are solid people of faith, and so are his grandparents. I pray this young man will be a person of rich and deep faith in Christ.

Our bishop visits!

Today Bishop Greg made his visitation to St. Antony's. What I noticed was how much he enjoyed it! He seemed to genuinely enjoy being with us, speaking from the heart, baptizing Benjamin, and confirming Aaron. I think he loves parish life and the contact with people.

I was glad we had such a welcoming response for him and Archdeacon Gen. I think we were ready and receptive for his visit. It felt natural and unforced.

I especially appreciated the bishop's endorsement of me as vicar. At each service, he made a point to put his hand on my shoulder and say that he's glad I'm here as vicar. That's very encouraging.

I hope to have photos of the day to post soon.
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Funeral at Family of God Lutheran Church

Yesterday I officiated at a funeral at Family of God Lutheran Church. I did this because I was covering for my friend Sigi Helgeson, the pastor of Family of God, while she was away on a mission trip.

I know Sigi because we both attend the pastor's text study that meets weekly at Silverdale Lutheran Church. Because of an agreement signed between the Lutheran and Episcopal Churches in the U.S., we have full interchangeability of clergy, and we can officiate at each other's altars.

Besides that, Family of God Church is just down Central Valley road from our house, and it's almost my neighborhood church. The deceased was a woman had had been with the church about 30 years. On Thursday I met with her family to learn about her life and help bring a sense of closure. It was very rewarding.

She was an artist, and they put on the altar a portrait she had made of Jesus. Along with the flowers, the brass urn with her ashes, and the quilted green altar hanging, it was quite lovely. I'm glad I could work with the people of Family of God, who were very welcoming to me.

Walkscore.com

According to walkscore.com, I live in a "car-dependent" neighborhood. What that means, essentially, is that I can't live without a car because I'm too far away from most amenities like grocery stores, schools, restaurants, cinemas and so forth.

Find out your home's Walk Score:

Of course, I already knew that. The Kitsap Peninsula is a car-dependent region because we're a product of the sprawl development of the '80s. Our neighborhoods are far-flung, isolated developments with no center or focus, and we drive all over the peninsula to get what we need.

There are a couple of interesting things about Walkscore.com. One is that a Walkscore is now included on real estate websites like zillow.com, and they claim that a point of Walkscore will add $3,000 to the value of your home. In other words, walkability has a dollar value today. People want to live in an environment where they can walk to work, school, stores, etc.

The other thing I found interesting is that my walkscore didn't include the availability of bus routes because Kitsap Transit doesn't share their computer applications with walkscore.com. So I filled out the form asking Kitsap Transit to open up and share their data.

By contrast, I checked out the Walkscore for my mother's house in a small town in rural Colorado. She got a 100 out of 100 because she lives a few blocks away from everything in her town!

Isn't it amazing what you can do with a computer?
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