It is always difficult to be in a position of authority and responsibility. As the old cliche goes, "the buck stops here." Decisions need to be made which bring a group closer to a goal, a leader closer to his, or her, comfort zone, and God willing nearer to each other and the Lord; all the while being rational and prayerful.
This past weekend I exercised my calling as priest & rector of this parish and made some significant changes to the schedule in order to accomplish all the above. I am glad to report that, though some are fearful of the outcome of this change, the majority have expressed confidence in this move and my ministry.
St. Barnabas, Greenfield's primary service will be Wednesday evenings at 7:00 pm, with sporadic Sundays at 1:00 pm on major festivals (most months they have two Sunday services, at 9:15 am). Christ Church, Glassville has moved five hours down the road to 4:00 pm in order that I do not have to drive unsafely, and illegally, to get from one side of the parish to the other in 20 mins.
The churches in Glassville and Florenceville will see the priest each and every Sunday, while Centreville will see me, more often than not, three weeks out of four. Consistency and predictability in these three churches may encourage others to return or begin attending these wonderful worship services. Once again, stability has been achieved in three out of four points, and Greenfield retains it's historic significance; again having a priestly presence each week.
Youth ministry, and especially children's ministry, was a mandate given at the Special July Vestry meeting. This mandate has been taken very seriously and all changes along with meetings with the Sunday school teachers and organists have been to address it. It is my hope that our parish will increase in being a very family friendly place of worship.
The clear goal is to have the parish function on "all four cylinders." Closing churches is not necessary, nor desired. In effect this move may help to entrench the existences of each congregation.
Viability though remains an issue in all mainline churches and the Vestry and annual meeting will need to assess the expense of four buildings. The Parish Central Treasurer has recently indicated that giving is down $2000 in Centreville; $15,000 in Florenceville; $5000 in Greenfield; and $3000 in Glassville, over the same period two years ago: that is $25,000 less than in 2003.
God Willing, these changes will evoke a community response that will encourage it's leadership, strengthen giving and ultimately give glory to God.
Other changes that come in the same vein are:
1) the establishment of an Eucharistic parish, thankful and joining the communion of all the saints in a weekly remembrance of the communion Jesus calls us to in his great feast.
2) The
Revised Common Lectionary is being used exclusively along with the collects provided in the BAS to meet the thematic elements in the "common" lectionary. This move brings us more in line with our ecumenical partners and in the whole Anglican Communion.
3)
The Book of Common Prayer remains our main service of worship but with changes that express a liturgical response to the Holy Spirit's call to 20th century revision (ie: words are the same except for unnecessary gender specific language; the Gloria moves to after the Collect of Purity, in it's ancient place; and the sermon, peace and fraction move to positions more familiar to modern liturgy, yet these positions are in fact as early as the Church Fathers).
4) The
Book of Alternative Services will be used for great times in the church year for celebration (ie: throughout Eastertide), but at other times only occasionally.
Behind these liturgical changes is a better expression of their individual theological stress and overall tone. As Anglicans we express a broad theological reality both penitential and celebratory, particularist and universalist. The "middle way," or via media, is what I have tried to accomplish liturgically. The BCP therefore will be used exclusively at penitential times: Advent and Lent; yet because the BAS deals with Ash Wednesday, Holy Week, Baptisms and Weddings much more fully, and closer to the ancient early church (
ad fontes), it will be used for those times as well.
All decisions were painfully thought out and born with great labour pains (at least for myself over this past month). It became clear that these changes were needed to address a number of very pressing issues, which could not wait, such as the unsafe drive, consistency in the parish, and our call to educate our children and grow into the full stature of Christ in this his Anglican Church. Theologically decisions have been made to bring the parish into a more full expression of our orthodox Anglican identity.
Pray for us a we begin to prepare for these changes September 11th.
