Sights and Insights
Devotion for June 8, 2021
I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, and for this reason. I do not cease to give thanks for you as I remember you in my prayers. I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, – Ephesians 1:15-17 (NRSV)
This past Wednesday the Reopening Task Force met to update guidelines for worship and building use. You will find the results of that meeting in this week’s eblast. Please take a look. Rather than focusing on the decisions themselves here, I wanted to take a moment to remember with thanks the amount of work, dedication, and deliberation that it takes to produce important decisions for the life of the congregation.
This most recent meeting of the Reopening Task Force was not a regularly scheduled meeting. It was added in because the day after the previous meeting a whole new set of guidelines began appearing from the CDC and the state, and so the previous decisions needed to be revised. The members of the task force have shown such dedication in regularly finding time to add in these meetings to give direction in the midst of continually changing and challenging circumstances. It has taken lively discussion and input from all of the members to find a way. Our congregation has people with a wide range of views on what should be done, and this team has taken the time to hear the various viewpoints and seek a course that is wise. It is an impressive act of continued dedication, and while the task is not yet complete I did want to take a moment to give thanks for the work of John O’Meara, Chris Cassel, Kristine Butler, Deacon Bill Lawrence, Cantor Dave Harp, Peggy Marks, and Steve Cathcart, who made themselves available for this most recent meeting, along with others who have contributed to its decision-making over the past year.
This group is not unique in the congregation, either, even if its task is. This Sunday we will be having our Congregational Ministry Meeting, which focuses on hearing about the ministries of the congregation over the past year. Each group has a story of the dedication of team members behind it. Ministries and decisions do not simply happen, nor are they things that come from me. They are collaborative efforts of the people of St. Matthew, through the work of many small groups of dedicated people striving to make faithful decisions in sometimes challenging circumstances. Once the meeting reviewing what has been done is complete, then the task moves on to the future. Next week we have committee and task force meetings every evening to lay the ground work for the next year of ministry, making decisions on how to live into the time of reopening. These meetings are more than meetings; they are the offerings of faithful people searching for wisdom in how to serve and grow as disciples of Jesus. If you are not familiar with who is involved in which committees and task forces, take some time to look at who is involved in which ministry and take a moment to thank them. This is the way that the ministries of the congregation become more than distant programs; they become alive and filled with the Holy Spirit.