Friends,

Over the summer, I championed a new nursery space. My desire was to have the nursery incredibly close to the sanctuary and for it to be as transparent as possible. Knowing that I could have easy access to my baby and for the space to be incredibly transparent to all would have made me more comfortable as a new parent. The space was beautiful, and I believe that everything was very well thought out. We have had record attendance the past two Sunday, the nursery got a ton of use, aaaaaaand it didn’t work out the way I had planned.

As a result of emphasizing transparency, parents were having to hide from their children who could clearly see them moving about the narthex. There may have been an attempted jail break initiated by a well-intentioned older sibling, and other elements just did not work out as planned.

Immediately after the service we had our vestry meeting, and it was clear that something had to change. Being focused on solutions, the vestry and I changed the space immediately following that meeting. The new nursery is now in the room off the parish hall. It is enclosed, beautiful, bright and removed enough so parents do not have to worry about starting a crying fit from being spotted by their toddler.

The big table that was in the meeting room now lives in the library. The table that was in the library now lives in the former nursery, and that space is now an open-air multi-use space. We are going to use this space to address another issue. Some children who are aging into our program for elementary school students need a space to get wiggles out before going into Church. This space will be available to them from 10:00 am to the Passing of the Peace. More details on that to come.

For those who had a less than stellar experience with the nursery this past Sunday, know that we are focused on making the space function, so it works for you. Please be help us to continue to improve our programming and culture at St. Luke’s, and we hope to see you this Sunday!

This whole whirlwind of feedback and change made me realize just how thankful I am for our Church. When the topic was broached in the vestry meeting, it was clear that the vestry got a ton of emphatic feedback from parents, and maybe they felt a little hesitant to share the feedback with me. I’m not going to lie, I am bummed that my idea didn’t work out, but I received this feedback with compassion and candor. There was no shame-inducing language, nor was the truth sugarcoated. It was abundantly clear that my efforts were appreciated, and that this was not going to work. This allowed us to immediately shift to finding a solution. The idea I championed was transformed into our mutual ministry, which is how it was always supposed to be, and I suspect that this approach will make our Church stronger.

This this series of events, we could have been faced with hurt feelings and hardships. Instead, our ability to shift is a testament to the mutual trust we have in one another. The leadership of your Church including me and the elected vestry members will never be perfect, but through trust, we don’t have to be. We can take bold steps to grow and support our Church, and when we fall short, we can lift each other up.

How good it is when we dwell together in unity. Thank you for being part of our Christian community.

Blessings,

Nick