Dear Friends,

Tonight, our vestry will be joining those who gather each month for Evensong at 6:30 in the church. Vestry members will be there to pray and prepare for a retreat the following day. We will be meeting as a vestry for most of the day on Saturday to plan for our parish’s future. Our hope is to emerge from the day with themes for a mission statement and a vision for our parish as we look ahead to the next few years.

Vestry members have been reading the results of the parish survey, along with other materials that provide a glimpse of what has been important to us over these last five years. We are excited about all the ways we have been blessed, and yearning to discern more clearly who God is calling us to be.

We will be meeting at Parish of the Epiphany in Winchester from 9 am to 3 pm (it is often good to meet in a different place to get some perspective on the parish we know so well). Our facilitator will be the Rev. Nancy Gossling, a priest in our diocese who has considerable experience leading such retreats.

How can you help? Many of you already have by answering the questions on the parish survey. You can also pray – on Friday evening, even if you cannot join us for Evensong, and on Saturday. Among your prayers, please give thanks for these leaders, who give of their time, talent, and treasure in so many ways to serve God.

Faithfully,

Tom

Members of the 2016 Vestry:

Maureen Lavely, Senior Warden
Bridget Nyhan, Junior Warden
Charlotte Maynard, Treasurer
Jake Sterling, Clerk
Fay Donohue
Matt Haldeman
Whitney Hayden
Doug Heim
Steve Spinetto
Jane Struss
Tom Mousin, Rector

Dear Friends,

Earlier this week, I sent out to our vestry the agenda for our meeting. It included the topics we needed to cover, as well as the regular calendar of upcoming events. Our Junior Warden, Bridget Nyhan, responded in an email and suggested that we needed to add one more agenda item: “Breathe!”

She noticed that there is much going on, starting tomorrow with the Sidewalk Sale. Don’t forget to take a breath in the midst of it all, she was suggesting. And so I will. And if I needed a reminder, it was provided for me on Thursday evening. I was upstairs in the Parish Hall, getting ready to welcome the Choir back. Last spring, Jane Struss graciously offered to lead the Choir in some breath and movement exercises before each rehearsal, and she was there again this Thursday night. And so I joined in, becoming much more aware of the air I was breathing in and then sending out. I became more aware of the power of breath.  It was a gift, even as Bridget’s reminder was.

It is no small thing the the Hebrew word, ruach, is used in the Hebrew Scriptures for both “breath” and “spirit.” And it is not small thing that Paul in his letter to the Romans can describe the Holy Spirit as interceding for us with “sighs too deep for words.”

I do want to remember to breathe as the fall schedules of work, home and church, are upon me. And I want to remember that with each breath, I can trust more deeply in the Holy Spirit to be present, to guide, to support, and even to cause me to stand still, to stand straight, and to simply, breathe.

Faithfully,

Tom