Though we often develop routines that make our lives somewhat predictable, our lives are always changing, in big ways and in small ways. And because our communities are made up of people who are constantly changing, and even the very people who make up the communities around us are changing as people move due to new jobs or retirement, that means the places where we live can change from one day to the next. Even the church, whose deep roots stretch back thousands of years, goes through periods of transitions and change. So I suppose it’s no surprise that St. Thomas is, once again, coming to a place where we are trying to figure ourselves out and figure out what our next steps should be. Questions like “what are our core values?” and “what gifts do we have that we can share with the community” are things that we must seriously consider, as the ways we would have answered these questions 10 years ago are not necessarily the way we would answer them now.
Starting in Advent, we will dedicate the time between services to explore these changes—to look back on the church of the past, to consider the church in the present, and shed light on what we would like the church of the future to look like. Please come and share your gifts and insights.
And this is my prayer, that your love may overflow more and more with knowledge and full insight to help you to determine what is best… -Philippians 1:9-10