Let Us Grow In The Way God Desires
Dear Ones,
Two items of particular note that I want to draw your attention to:
1. There have been devastating floods lately: first in Pakistan where over 50 million people have been displaced indefinitely while also losing crops and homes and livelihoods, and now this past weekend also in Puerto Rico and several islands around the Caribbean and Latin America, many of whom are not fully recovered from Hurricane Maria in 2017.
Please hold all these communities in your prayers. And if you’d like to contribute to relief efforts, I commend to you Episcopal Relief and Development:
www.episcopalrelief.org.
2. Additionally, a wise priest who specializes in church planting and redevelopment, posted this lovely reflection today about church growth which I commend to your hearts as we look toward the future. It’s easy for us to slide into the thinking that new people should want all that we
have. This invites us to remember that it’s truly about all that we
are.
So you want to grow your church by The Rev. Chantal Morales McKinney
Your vestments and altar hangings are so beautiful. So regal! They won't grow your church.
Your silver chalices have been shined with great care. But they won't draw anyone to Jesus, who came to feed the hungry.
Show them your soft wounds.
Show them your painful vulnerabilities.
Tell them about how you suffered and hurt, and yet Christ raised you up from the bottom.
Lean into your brokenness.
Show them your cracks. Let the Christ light shine through them so brightly that some may wince.
It can be hard for a perfect church to draw broken people to them.
Jesus came for the broken, the sick, the wounded, the lost.
Lay aside your pretension.
Show them how the living Christ saved you.
Speak from your heart, from your place of humility.
But, friend, the question shouldn't only be "How do I grow my church?"
The church should always be asking, "How can we more faithfully follow Jesus?"
And to do that, we need to leave the church building- together.
Be love in the world.
Get to know your neighbors.
Listen more than talk.
You can be nervous. You should be humble. But most of all, just be love.
Cultivate belonging with a spirit of Love.
And pray for that which you long for.
It's about the journey of following Jesus, not the destination of arriving at a certain number.
Surrender to the Spirit already moving in the community.
Lead with the heart. Let the mind take a supporting role only.
Let love be your guide.
And then, without aiming for it, you will grow in the way God desires.
Blessings, dear ones. Let us grow in the way God desires!
Mother Erika
The Rev. Erika von Haaren
Interim Rector
Christ Church of the Ascension
