Annual Meeting Sermon: 3 Epiphany, Year A
St. John’s, Sharon,
PA; January 26, 2014
Rev. Adam T. Trambley
In our Gospel readings the past two weeks, we have heard how
Jesus was baptized by John, how he came up out of the water and how he received
the Holy Spirit. This week he announced
his purpose and chose four others. Does
this remind you of anything? Yes, the
discipleship arm dance! Since today is
our annual meeting, and this is my annual report to you, let’s start by
reviewing what we learned this summer.
I’ll do it once as a review, then we can all do it together.
Jesus was baptized by John.
He came up out of the water.
He received the Holy Spirit.
He heard the voice of God, “You are my beloved Son, with
whom I am well pleased.”
He went into the wilderness.
He defeated the devil.
He came out of the wilderness.
He announced his purpose.
He chose four others.
He taught them everything they needed to know.
He sent them out.
Jesus announces his purpose in the Gospel today: “Repent,
for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”
As a church, we turn around our lives and live into Jesus’ coming
kingdom as we live into our purpose to worship God, care for people and grow as
Christians.
We also see Jesus calling his first four disciples today. They are fishermen along the seashore, and he
chooses them and prepares them to carry on his work. Both as individuals and as a congregation, we
have been chosen by Jesus, as well. Part
of his call is to learn what he has to teach us so that we can go out and bring
others into the life of his kingdom, as well.
Over the past year, St. John’s has been doing the work to
going out and bringing others into the Kingdom of God in this place. We have experienced a disproportionate amount
of change this year. Some of that change
was intentional to help us grow in mission and ministry. Some of that change was far from intentional,
but hopefully we have weathered it and allowed God to bring good, if
unexpected, things out of it.
I want to start by talking about something that was a huge
success. Over a year ago, in 2012, we
spent Advent working on being welcoming and hospitable. We had skits as part of the sermon, we had
cards and exercises, and we even interrupted the sermons to go talk to
people. People seemed to enjoy it, but,
as they say, “the proof is in the pudding.”
Fast forward a year to the third Sunday in Advent 2013. Many of you remember the moving service we
had with the Walnut Lodge and Ballet Theatre Shenango Valley. It was a powerful experience of worship, and
we hope to build on it in the future.
What I particularly want to share with you though, is the feedback I got
from many of the guests and visitors that joined us that day. People felt overwhelming welcomed in a way
that blew them away. They felt like we
genuinely appreciated that they were with us, that we wanted them to be able to
participate in our services, our fellowship and our church life, and that we
wanted to welcome them whether they would be there for just that day or might
decide someday to join the church. I felt
very proud to be a part of this parish, and I just wanted to take a moment
today to say “well done” to all of you who really do love each other in ways
that can be so easily shared with others.
That same sense of welcoming has permeated a number of other
things this past year, as well. Two
rooms
were overhauled almost entirely with the individual contributions, expertise
and elbow grease of numerous parishioners. Earlier this year, the lounge went from a large Victorian study to a
modified coffee house motif. The
resulting set-up has facilitated more discussion and fellowship at coffee hour,
as well as an easier place for other meetings and conversations throughout the
week. Then, later this summer, a group
of volunteers, mainly from St. John’s Family Kitchen, took the upstairs dining
room and kitchen and turned it into a beautiful space that could serve lunches on
Saturdays, as well as host parties, classes and meetings. In fact the space was so welcoming, that as
the finishing touches were being put on it, an AA group decided to relocate to
our handicapped-accessible upstairs dining room. I want to thank everyone who helped overhaul
these two important spaces, especially Katherine Huff, who managed to discover
the perfect used, quality tables and chairs for the lounge, Ron and Madge
Tamber, Paula Ference, Curt and Cleo Baker, Bob Edeburn Bob King, Jacque Beck
and Bob Verholic, who spent days updating the wiring.
Our sense of welcome also contributed to the growth of our
outreach ministries. St. John’s
Community Kitchen continued to grow, serving 150-200 people each week. A special two-year anniversary was held in
December that included the opportunity to provide holiday portraits for our
guests. Episcopal Community Services
welcomed the clients from First Baptist Church when their food pantry was
forced to close. St. John’s worked with
St. Jude’s Church and the Laurel Technical Institute to provide welcoming
spaces to those coming to downtown Sharon for Waterfire through comfort
stations and children’s activities. The
Episcopal Church Women continued their Mad Hatter’s Tea and Christmas Tureen,
welcoming family and friends for good food and fellowship. Thanks to the dozens of people who spend their
time and effort to make these and all our ministries so successful.
2013 has also been a year of transitions. Some of these transitions have been great
celebrations. Seven couples were married
at St. John’s, and a few others with roots in the parish were married in other
locations. We also welcomed 26 people
into the church through confirmation, reception or reaffirmation. Some of those new members of the parish are
already stepping up into leadership.
Three were just elected to vestry this year, and another, Linda Houk, is
our new Altar Guild Director. Linda will
take over for Pat Gross, who was appointed director by Father Considine some
years ago, and actually started on Altar Guild when she was invited by a school
friend to help out. I am exceedingly
grateful for Pat’s dedicated service, expertise, and level-headed common sense. She will still be on the Altar Guild, as well
as volunteering in a number of other capacities around the parish.
Much of my time this year has been working with staff
transitions. In January, Diana Moreland
took over for Missy Greene as our Youth and Family Minister and in September
Ron Gracilla became our Music Director when Frank Dodd got a teaching job
downstate. I am very happy that Ron and
Diana have chosen to join us at St. John’s, and I feel blessed to be working
with them. Thank you to our choir, as
well as our youth group leaders and Sunday School teachers, who have helped
with these transitions and allowed our excellent ministry to continue even in
the midst of occasionally sudden changes.
I am also saddened to announce that our Sexton, Ed Gunesch,
has announced that this week will be his last week at St. John’s. Ed has done a wonderful job with us, and his
stories and humor, as well as his hard work, will be missed. We are still working on hiring our next
sexton and, in the meantime, please feel free to clean anything that strikes
your fancy. By the way, Tina has assured
me she has no plans to go anywhere, and I expect you’ll be stuck with me for a
long time.
There are probably many other things I could say about last
year, and I could spend a long time thanking many, many people for their prayers,
dedication and hard work. I am
regularly humbled at the devotion I see in so many of you, and feel exceedingly
blessed to be able to serve as your rector.
Now this could be a perfect place to stop and sit down, but
I do want mention six key efforts coming up in 2014.
First, we have begun a capital campaign process. The Diocese has provided funding for us to work
with Michael Davis of Evans/Davis Fundraising Counsel. (Michael, please stand up and wave). Over the past few months, Michael has helped
us develop a case statement for capital work to be done over the next five
years. Much of this work focuses on needed
exterior renovations, but it also looks at air conditioning, our music program
and new ministry opportunities. Over the
next month or so, Michael will conduct a series of confidential interviews with
20-30 families from St. John’s to get feedback on our priorities and to
determine what kind of capital campaign could be successful. People from a cross section of the parish
will be asked to participate in the interview process (which will take about 45
minutes), but he will also meet with anyone who would like to be interviewed at
this time. Our expectation is that the
capital campaign itself will occur sometime this fall. If you have any questions, Michael will be
around today and is happy to talk with you.
Second, we will be moving forward with our Natural Church
Development Process. Last year we took a
survey and a number of people volunteered to work on our minimum factor, which
is passionate spirituality. Given some
of the other things happening at the end of last year, we did not get much farther,
but we will be moving forward this year.
Third, our healing and prayer ministries will be working on
reaching out in new ways. Last year they
held a monthly soaking prayer service on Saturday afternoon. This year they will be reaching out with a rotation
of three different services one Monday evening a month. Starting with a more traditional healing
service on February third, they will also host Taize services and soaking
prayer services in the coming months.
Fourth, we want to intentionally deepen some of the
partnerships we have begun over the past two years. Of key importance are our partnerships with
churches and other organizations that assist with the Saturday lunches. In addition to deepening the good
relationships we already have, we have opportunities for other churches or
organizations to help prepare a monthly meal and to help with serving.
Through Waterfire, we began a partnership with Laurel
Technical Institute. Not only did we
work together this summer, but they helped register folks for our holiday
portraits and provided free haircuts and styling. We are also in discussions with them about a
few other projects, and I think we are only scratching the surface of ways we
can work together, and of what we can offer their students and faculty.
During our Advent service, we saw the fruits of a
partnership with Walnut Lodge and the Ballet Theatre Shenango Valley. I know that Ron and I are both committed to
continuing to find ways to incorporate different artists from a variety of media
into our worship experience. I don’t
know what future possibilities will look like, but given our initial success, I
hope to keep exploring them.
Finally, earlier this year, an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting
began to meet here for the first time in a number of years. Not only did they begin meeting here, but
they felt incredible welcomed and, I think, feel some ownership for the place. Already a second meeting has started and
other meetings are being looked at. To
be able to host these gatherings where people are intentionally changing their
lives is a great honor, and I expect that their presence will bless us in ways
we can’t yet imagine.
Fifth, I hope to have new opportunities for Christian
Formation, especially adult education and formation. Diana and some of our volunteers will be
looking at activities for children and youth beyond Sunday School, and a number
of things are in the works for adults.
Over the next four weeks, I will be offering introductory classes about
our church in the upstairs dining room between services. Next week we will look at the story of the
Anglican Communion, followed by a week on the Episcopal Church, and then a week
on the story of St. John’s. We have
offered these before as part of adult confirmation preparation. Given the new people who have joined us over
the past year, we will be offering them again.
Then, on February 23, I will be offering a new class on how St. John’s
works, with explanations of our vestry, our finances, our endowments, and our
relationship with the Diocese and the Episcopal Church. I expect this to be of interest to both new
folks and those who have been around a while.
As part of determining what might be helpful topics for future
teaching and preaching, I want to ask for your input. In your bulletin, you will find a paper with
two questions:
- What question(s) would you like to ask God?
- What question(s) do you have about our church, our buildings, how we do things, what we believe or what our church expects from us?
Feel free to answer those questions either today or in the
coming weeks and drop off your answers in the collection plate, in the office,
or even by emailing me. I will try to
address your questions in future sermons and teachings.
The other significant Christian Formation opportunity we
hope to offer this year is at least one mission trip. Our confirmation class is looking at a
mission trip, and we expect to put something together for all ages, as
well.
The sixth important initiative we will be working on this
year is hosting Diocesan Convention.
This event on November sixth through eighth will bring about two hundred
people to Sharon from around our Diocese.
We plan to have business sessions in the sanctuary at First Methodist
next door, a Diocesan Eucharist here, and a banquet at the VFW up the
street. While some work will be
involved, convention will also be a great opportunity for people in this parish
to connect with the work of the wider church.
2013 was a pretty special year here at St. John’s. We worshipped God, cared for people and grew
as Christians in some amazing ways. 2014
is shaping up to be a great years, as well, with lots of love to share and
prayers to say. I look forward to seeing
what God is going to do with us in the next twelve months. So consider yourselves to be chosen, and sent
out.
