Friends,

Right now, I feel compelled to put something in front of you that may be a bit premature. First, here is a bunch of preamble:

· I don’t like clergy: I can’t stand people like me. Our job is to have opinions and talk a lot, and oh my goodness, do we do it with gusto. When a bunch of us gather and talk about the things that we care about, we become insufferable. The problem with every clergy person I have met is that we are completely blind to what makes us competent, yet we won’t shut up about what we perceive as our strengths. No one cares about your systematic approach to liberation theology in the context of Slavic mythology… at least not as much as you do. When clergy reach a critical concentration, our echo chambers form, and we just won’t shut up about whatever our “thing” is. In this regard, clergy greatly resemble manure. When we are spread out, we can help things grow, but when we are all piled up in one place, we just make the place smell and are largely useless.

· Actually, clergy can be pretty great: The problem with the previous section is that I actually do really like clergy. When we get over ourselves, the inner desire to serve can come out, and we may even do some good. By my third year in seminary, I was over it. The echo chambers became deafening, and I felt like I was about to burst. When I came back years later and reconnected with classmates, I was shocked at how well-adjusted they were. They needed to get away from the high concentration of priest types and do what they were called to do rather than talk about it. When I speak with my collared colleagues, I get the occasional cringy, self-righteous lecture, but more often I am amazed at what they accomplish when they have the chance to thrive. It turns out that when imperfect people want to follow in Christ’s footsteps, they can surprise you.

· We are growing quite rapidly: Specifically, our 10:00 am Sunday morning worship is growing very rapidly. We have a few wonderful new people at 8:00 am and 5:00 pm, and our Sunday school classes have grown, but oh my goodness, I cannot keep up with all the new people at 10:00 am. I am extremely thankful that Meredith Braselman is working with me to set up a welcoming committee, because I am simply overwhelmed. The supper, running, and climbing clubs have been great initiatives to help new people find a place to get to know our members better, but we are still finding our footing as a Church on how to help people feel part of the community more quickly.

· St. Luke’s has strong seminarian support: Micah Brown is a senior in seminary, did a full-time internship with us over the summer, and currently volunteers with us on Sundays. Blair Sokol is a second-year seminary student and currently works about 12 hours a week for class credit. We’ve had some good seminarians in the past, but we have never had two highly competent priests-in-training with us at the same time. I can honestly say we wouldn’t be doing as well as we do without them. We have an amazing staff and lay leadership team, and Micah and Blair thrive by partnering with them and helping everyone thrive, instead of doing everything themselves. They are like manure that has been properly spread out. The problem is that their time here is transient, and next year we will have to come up with another plan. We will occasionally get a seminarian who is a total goober and won’t be an asset. When that happens, we will need to find a way to thrive without that additional support.

Enough preamble. We need another priest here, and I hope we can afford one starting this coming spring. We will not know if this is possible until after our stewardship campaign, which we are intentionally starting later than usual so we can have more time to plan for our community’s future. I cannot tell you how fulfilled I feel serving at St. Luke’s. Most of the problems we face stem from the energy and growth we have seen. It’s chaotic, but we remain focused on the people and our call to serve, and I can feel the spirit start to snowball. If we hired someone who feels as called as we do to make this a faithful and loving place, they would have plenty of room to spread out and help us grow. The intention is never to take ministry away from the laity, but to enhance the gifts that are already abundant in our Church.

I hope that when it is time, you will help me form the vision of who and what we are becoming, and you will help us bring this vision to life. Thank you for making this such a wonderful place to be.

Blessings,

Nick