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A Valentine's Day Message from the Transition Committee by Arthur Morey, Chair of the Transition Committee Committee Members: Ann Mohr, Bob Cox, Laurie Hutzler, Peter Haight, Pam Schmidt, Don Lloyd and the Rev. Hartshorn Murphy The members of the transition committee read the 70 written responses from the annual meeting. We're grateful to all who joined that conversation. We know these are your first thoughts, not your last words. As you have afterthoughts, send a note or talk to any of us. There was diversity of opinion but no huge contradictions. Some were moved by the idea of making the campus more beautiful. Others wanted to stress social utility. Some liked the idea that this might become a more peaceful place-an "urban oasis." Others were looking for more action-the church as a spiritual center. The word "vital" was used. "God's footprint," someone called it-a great phrase. (Maybe an urban spiritual center is a contradiction in terms.) Some wouldn't mind making waves: "We want a beautiful garden," says one person and then goes on to describe something brand new. A few want no change. "I love our courtyard as it stands today," says somebody else. "Don't go too crazy" another writer adds. Another warns against "missed opportunity." Some fear was expressed about financial risks. We might like to do things we can't afford. We hope to elicit good ideas first and then put them to a financial test. Sometimes this is speculative: a more available campus would draw new parishioners who would make pledges and increase our income. But this is impossible to put a dollar amount on. Many were attracted by the idea that the rebuilt church could reach out in new ways to the community. This was counterbalanced by the worry that accommodating and collaborating with new people might change our way of doing things, might make us feel abroad at home. The fear and attraction of being engaged with outsiders were flip sides of the same coin, apparently sometimes felt by the same person. It's like the simultaneous attraction and fear people feel when they are thinking about marriage or are falling in love or thinking about falling in love and trying to rationalize the impulse. (A recent New Yorker shows a young nerd at his computer, presumably looking at a spreadsheet, shouting to his girlfriend, "I've done the math, honey, I will marry you.") It seems not wrong to think about the connection between the church and the community as something like a real-life love match. In a more perfect world entering the mission field might correctly be seen as something like passionate engagement. In Sonnet 116 Shakespeare says, "Let me not to the marriage of true minds / Admit impediments." We'll follow that lead; we'll continue to listen to your thoughts and fears and bright ideas with the idea that we're a committee of matchmakers between the church and the community. The next line, by the way, says, "...Love is not love / Which alters when it alteration finds." We need to remember that this romance with the big world won't always be blissful; that's not a reason to hold back.
Copyright © 2005 St. Augustine by-the-Sea
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