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IMAGINE THE FUTURE THE REV. JOHN E. KITAGAWA ____ THIRD SUNDAY AFTER THE
EPIPHANY AND ANNUAL MEETING SUNDAY ____ ISAIAH 9: 1-4 CORINTHIANS 1: 10-18 MATTHEW 4: 12-23
P.O. VOICE: 520-299-6421 FAX: 520-299-0712 E-MAIL: WEB SITE: WWW.STPHILIPSTUCSON.ORG |
What a difference a year makes! Last year, the sum and substance of my
Annual Report focused on necessary transitions for St. Philip’s to grow,
develop and flourish. I said: It is time to look forward
and to envision what a renewed identity and vocation might look like in 2011,
our 75th Anniversary. [And,
if] we are to be guided and inspired by a renewed vision of St. Philip’s
identity, if we are to flourish and not just survive … we have serious work
to do now[1]. What difference has a year made? A lot of significant work has been done by
the vestry and staff to help St. Philip’s grow, develop and flourish. We have articulated and communicated a set
of core values to shape our identity and to ground all that we do. These core values are printed in the Annual
Meeting hand-out you will receive in the Galleries. Parish leadership has also developed and
communicated four priority goals for the next five years. A summary of these goals can also be found
in the hand-out. Goal One: We will increasingly become a church whose culture is
clearly mission oriented and outward looking.
This will enable us to live our vision reaching out both to the
unchurched and to those in need of social justice. This goal is summarized by the slogan,
Maintenance to I am very pleased to hear the phrase,
Maintenance to M2M is a call to refocus on the Great
Commission to baptize and make disciples, and on the Great Commandment to
love one another as Christ loved us.
Moving from Maintenance To Mission does happen in a vacuum. The
context is a world, a nation, a state, a city, and communities desperately in
need of the healing, transforming and reconciling work of Christ through
us. The essential difference between
the Maintenance model and the Goal Two: We will deepen our connections to God and to each other to
strengthen our faith; to increase our sense of being a community with a
common vision; and, to increase our mission capacity. Implementation activities include
integrating mission themes into our worship, especially in hymnody, anthems
and preaching. A good number of you
participated in “Face to Face” gatherings of clergy and parishioners. In December, we sponsored an Advent retreat
with a Bible Study focus on the Great Commandment and the Great
Commission. On Saturday, 9 February,
there will be a Lenten Retreat, and at the end of April a parish retreat up
in Oracle. Goal Three: We will create a financially
secure base to live our mission and practice our faith fully. Implementing activities include the
Covenant 2008 |
pledge campaign. In February, we will celebrate our first
Legacy Sunday. Later, I will talk about
an exciting Mission Discernment Process, which grew out of working on this
goal.
Goal Four: We will establish a commissioner structure to widen and
deepen community leadership. Implementing activities include identifying
and raising up commission leaders, regular meetings of ministry commissions and
commissioners, commission participation in budget-building, and commission
participation in planning and implementing ministry.
The benefits of the commission system are
the organization of our ministries, the insistence that our ministries be
congruent with our Core Values and Priority Goals, and the identification and
raising up of new leadership. Our Budget
Committee will tell you what a difference a year makes. The commissions took on the responsibility
for budget development. The result was a
more detailed and better supported set of submissions and, and they were
clearly related to the Maintenance to
What difference have Core Values and
Priority Goals made? From my perspective,
they focus the parish dialogue, and help us all to be clearer and to have a
sense of priority. They help us stay the
course. They feed a growing sense of
identity and community as more of you understand what we stand for, and how we
respond to God’s call. Our Treasurer
will later report that 2007 was a pretty good financial year. Jim Prescott-Smith will share a number of
contributing factors. I think it is
legitimate to say a greater sense of focus, clarity and priority mixed with a
sense of identity and community were factors in this better financial year.
Many of you intuitively or conceptually
understand M2M. Much of what I hear is
along the lines of “just what does the mission piece look like?” Or, “can you give me some examples of what a
community deeply engaged in mission would look and feel like?” First, keep asking this question. As long as you ask it, you will probably
become more observant and begin to see answers all around you. Secondly, get in touch with the anxiety
behind the questions. It could be the
Holy Spirit stirring within. Would it
not be a shame to short-circuit the deep work of the Spirit by insisting on a
quick answer? Thirdly, I invite you to
join in a new, exciting and creative process called Mission Discernment. This process is designed to help us jointly
create pictures of what St. Philip’s mission will be. In simple terms, the Mission Discernment
Process is designed to engage you in responding to two questions:
1. What is God calling St.
Philip’s to be and do in the next five years?
2. What do we need to fulfill
that call?
I am excited. I can hardly wait to see what happens. Key leadership people have already stepped forward.
Karl Yordy and Sally Stevens Taylor co-chair the Mission Discernment
Committee. John Driskill chairs the
Communications Committee. Paulette Bremond coordinates small groups.
With the Wardens and myself, they form the core of the Mission Discernment
Committee. We are fortunate to have the guidance and expertise
of Terri Mathes, a consultant from the Episcopal Church Foundation.
Please join me in thanking the Bishop of Arizona for paying the bills.
This is a wonderful and generous gift.
Should we someday develop plans that require serious fund-raising,
the Bishop asks us to give a negotiated portion to the Alleluia Fund, which
supports the establishment of new Episcopal Churches in
I appeal to you to join this process of
imagining the future without constraints or limitations. I believe strongly in the power of
imagination because I believe it is the work of the Holy Spirit. So, I bid you, come together, trusting in the
Holy Spirit. Come together to imagine
new possibilities. Come together to
imagine how we can incorporate new members, form them in a dynamic, loving,
life-changing faith. Come together to
imagine how we can stretch and grow in our capacity to do God’s work in the
world, and to bring about God’s justice and peace.
Please look for my letter and article in the
February’s Loaves and Fishes. In a few
weeks, we will send you a detailed letter about how you can participate in a
one-hour small group process called “Dream-Catching.” A “Dream-Catching” session is your
opportunity to contribute your responses to the two questions. Some “Dream-Catching” sessions will be
organized by ministry groups, some by zip code neighborhoods, and some for
those who prefer to meet here on campus during the day or in the evening. The Reponses generated by every
Dream-Catching session will be recorded and shared with the Mission Discernment
Committee. Tidbits from the sessions
will be reported in Sunday bulletins, in Loaves and Fishes, and on the
web.
Your answers to the two questions are
exceedingly important. They will be like
the many small pieces of marble that create a mosaic. In the final picture, you may not be able to
identify your particular idea or project, but without it, the mosaic would be
lacking in color, nuance, or passion, and therefore would be deprived of some
its vibrancy and ability to represent the collective wisdom of the
community. Your ability to influence the
future does not end with the Dream-Catching sessions. Sometime in the spring, the Mission
Discernment Committee will present a progress report for your comments. Based on your feedback, the Committee will
then send a final plan and recommendations to the vestry, including potential
costs.
At this beginning stage of the process, let
your imagination loose! It is easy to
think of the second question first. So,
someone might say we need a sound system that does not leave dead spots in the
church. Why would that be
important? The mission response is that
among the Church’s primary callings is preaching the Word. It is hard to be effective if people cannot
hear the sermon! So, think in ministry
terms first. What is God calling us to
be and do? Then consider what we will
need to accomplish the vision. Here is a
second example, someone may feel God is calling St. Philip’s to develop the
premier Children, Youth and Family Ministry in Tucson to pass the faith on to
new generations, and to help families integrate faith and life, and to shape
and equip them for ministry in the world.
You can easily see how this calling fits into the M2M theme, and our
priority goals. This calling would
probably encompass elements of all our ministry areas: evangelism, formation, pastoral care, music
and arts, worship, outreach, stewardship, as well as staffing, volunteer
training, the use of current and possibly new facilities.
Here is an example of a different calling. Can you imagine being a part of a world-wide movement to reduce by half the proportion of people living on less than a dollar a day and who suffer from hunger? Can you imagine every boy and girl in the world completing a full course of primary education? Can you imagine working on eliminating gender disparity in primary and secondary education? Can you imagine working on reducing by two-thirds the mortality rate among children under five, and by three quarters maternal mortality? What about halting and reversing the spread of AIDS and other infectious diseases? What about ensuring environmental sustainability? What about developing global partnerships for development? Some of you recognize that I have just outlined the Millennium
Development Goals[3]. Would it be too bold for the parish to adopt the MDGs? We are already doing things that comport with these goals, but are we
willing
to be stretched and called out of our comfort zone into further actions to
address the challenges the MDGs present?
In today’s Gospel, Jesus says to Peter,
Andrew, James, and John:
“Follow me, and I will make you fish for
people [and] Immediately they left their nets and followed him (Matthew
This
strikes me as the very definition of stepping out in faith. My friends, Jesus calls us today,
individually and collectively, to step out in faith, to follow him into
ministry in the world. The call seems
amorphous and unclear. I believe it
becomes clearer in community. We can
start getting clearer by joining the choir in singing the offertory hymn. Then, I suggest you take the words home,
particularly the first two verses, and pray them time and time again, and allow
God to speak to you and inspire you through them.
Lord, you give the great commission, “Heal
the sick and preach the word.”
Lest the Church neglect its mission and the
Gospel go unheard,
help us witness to your purpose with
renewed integrity;
with the Spirit’s gifts empower us for the
work of ministry.
Lord, you call us to your service, “in my
name baptize and teach.”
That the world may trust your promise, life
abundant meant for each,
give us all a new fervor; draw us closer in
community;
with the Spirit’s gifts empower us for the
work of ministry.
AMEN.