We feed God's people.
In January of 2008, St. George’s found itself at a critical juncture as it thought about it’s future. In response, St. George’s began an important process of prayerfully listening for who God was calling St. George’s to be and do. Parish members raised up the names of people they felt were appropriate for this task. In response, 14 members met faithfully for two hours a month for the last 7 months, listening to each other and God through discussion and extended periods of silence. The group struggled with questions such as “Who is St. George’s now?” and “Who is St. George’s called be?” As the group approached its self-defined deadline of June 2, there were questions about whether we would have consensus around the right words to express our many thoughts. At our last meeting we were gifted with the words shown below.
We feel this statement both captures St. George’s essence as well as calling us to grow in our corporate and individual spiritual life. We share these words with you now. We hope that you find your place in this statement, and that you also consider the implications of this call for yourself and for St. George’s as a whole.
Our next step is to incorporate this statement in the search process where appropriate. In addition to this step we will be making plans to give the congregation an opportunity to wrestle with the meaning of this for St. George’s. We would love to hear any feedback you have. Please send any comments to angelachurchill@mac.com.
St. George’s is called to feed God’s people
We do this because God loves us, Christ leads us, and the Holy Spirit moves us.
We do this by:
- Building a joyful and nourishing community
- Feeding the hungry and working to prevent hunger
- Welcoming all to God’s table and sharing our sacramental life
- Fostering all types of spiritual growth
When we face challenges we ask:
What is the most nourishing thing we can do at this time?
When we need to give up things we ask:
Which of these things are not feeding our community?
When we are personally invited to do something for the community we ask:
Will this nourish me and others?
“The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.”
From Frederick Buechner’s definition of “vocation” in his little book Wishful Thinking
