Measuring a Year:The Rector’s Report for the Annual Meeting of the Parish

One of the most popular songs from the musical “Rent” poses the question, “How do you measure a year in life?”  It wonders whether one measures it “In daylights, in sunsets, in midnights, in cups of coffee, in inches, in miles, in laughter, [or] in strife?”  “Measure in love,” it answers.  A year in a life can be measured by seasons of love.

The Annual Meeting of the Parish of All Souls is this Sunday, following the 11 a.m. Mass.  We will gather to elect new wardens and vestry members, hear reports, and to ask questions, suggest ideas, and share dreams.  Though aspects of our life together can be measured in numbers, I also invite you to spend some time thinking about how your year at All Souls might be measured by love.  As a parish, our year can be measured by seasons of love in a number of different areas.

  
We have continued to share a love of worship.  Our love of worship is seen in the care we take and, I think, in the response of visitors and members.  Our average attendance on a Sunday in 2008 was 172 people (total for the day).  On Wednesdays, we have usually had 10 to 25.  On Thursdays we had 5 to 8, and since we  began daily Morning Prayer, or Matins, we have averaged 2 or 3 each day. Even when there are only a few of us, we pray in the spirit of the one who said, “Where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them.”  We pray for the parish, for the church, and for the world.  Our worship has been enriched by Stations of the Cross on Fridays in Lent, joyous celebration of feast days, and a full and rich observance of Holy Week.

 
We have shared a love of learning.  The Adult Forum has stretched us and deepened us on Sundays and we have also offered special opportunities for adult formation during Lent and Advent.  The Sunday school has had a particularly rich year not only with weekly classes for our young people, but also offering occasional parties and special times for learning more about the church.  After working with our Sunday school for seven years, Marcia Anderson has decided to step down from serving as director.  We owe her enormous thanks and will work hard to continue and grow the good program she has nurtured so well. 

We continue to discern what it means for us to love our neighbor. Members of our parish serve with a number of nonprofits and boards in our community.  Other members continue to volunteer at Christ House, Martha’s Table, Habitat for Humanity, St. Mary’s Court, and other places where God’s love is shared in tangible ways.  While our Endowment Board continues to support and encourage many ministries, I hope that we can find new ways to be physically present with our neighbors in need.  I pray that we will continue to be open to God’s leading us to be more involved in mission, both locally and abroad. 

We have shared a love of family and home, as we have tried to be attentive to one another and maintain a clean, safe, and beautiful building.  Whether it is the Wise and Mature lunches, breakfasts and coffee hours, or the prayer shawl ministry, we have tried to be family for one another.  Some of our ministries have felt the impact as key parishioners have moved away, begun participating in a discernment process toward seminary, or have experienced new obligations to work or family.  At the same time, we have benefited from new parishioners who have begun to add their energy in ministries like the garden guild, Christ House, environmental stewardship, and an expanded newcomer and evangelism ministry.  I look forward to working with the new vestry to organize ourselves in such a way as to encourage and support ministries as they spring up.

During the last year we made substantial progress in working on our building, completing various projects to help with drainage and to repair stone walls.  A thorough mechanical survey of the building was completed, and we are using that as part of our continued conversation with the architect toward further accessibility and improvements, including an elevator.  Ray Myrtle got us started with much of this work and Dale Lewis, with the input of others, continues this effort. 

We have celebrated the seasons of love and life with baptisms, weddings and holy unions, anniversaries, adoptions, and other significant events.  Our total active baptized membership at the end of 2008 was 333 persons.  Last year we welcomed 16 new members and transferred 3 members to other parishes.  We were saddened by the death of Jim Barnett in January and Philip Leonard in March and we also celebrated memorial services for Frances Blancke and Mary Blackwelder. Many members of the parish have also lost people who were dear to them and whenever that has happened, we have held them closely in our prayers.  May God continue to strengthen those who mourn.  May God grant to those who have died eternal rest, and let light perpetual shine upon them.

For me, as this has been my first full year as your rector, the season has brought a renewed love of vocation for me. I love being your priest and continue to pray for the grace and wisdom to be a better priest.  I began at All Souls in September of 2007 and in some ways feel as though I’ve lived and served among you for five years, while in other ways I feel as though I’ve just begun.  During this first full year, I have worked hard at listening and getting to know you.  I have not gotten to everyone, but I am trying.  There have been times when some of you have thought I have made decisions too quickly and unilaterally.  Others of you have been frustrated when I have not led more directly or forthrightly, or when I have held back from directing particular projects and efforts.  I believe that this is a natural part of our getting to know one another.  For me, it is a part of my listening to who you are—both where you’ve been and where you want to go.  I understand that before I came, your interim time was one in which many people found new gifts of leadership and ministry, and I have tried to watch as those gifts continue to be developed and expressed. 

 
Administratively, we have undergone changes with the hiring of Philip Cave as organist and choir director and Isaac Borocz as our parish administrator.  We have begun to create job descriptions, clarify expectations for each position, and implement evaluations, all of which are new for All Souls.  Neither Isaac nor Philip are members of our parish, which is also a new thing for our parish.  I am grateful to both of them for the gifts and abilities they bring.  We continue to learn our jobs and to grow into working as a staff.  That process has been helped by Barry Huber’s volunteering in the office one day a week, and we are grateful for his guidance.  Also crucial to the ongoing operation of the office are the financial volunteers and other weekday volunteers who enter data, help with the production of bulletins, answer phones, and help to be a friendly and loving presence for any who happen by the church.  I continue to give thanks for Oscar Prado, Moises Flores, Natty Dayal and Amy Schoolcraft for their flexibility and their hard work.

The Finances of our parish continue to be carefully managed by our volunteer treasurer, Larry Sturgeon, with much help from Terry Horan, the finance committee, the endowment board, and the vestry.  Nancye Suggs, our senior warden, has led us through storms minor and major, but always manages to do so with humor and tremendous love.  I want say a special thanks to Darla Brown and Susan Morrison who are completing their terms on vestry, and to thank those on our vestry who are continuing.  We are just getting started, and I am grateful for the time, energy, and faith you give to me and to All Souls.

In all that we do, I believe that we have continued to share in the love of God.  By this I mean not only the sense that we may have of loving God, but more importantly, it is God’s love for us—whether we feel it or not—that sustains us, that supports us, that keeps our parish going, and that continues to shape us into the Body of Christ. 

Looking ahead, I am eager for the renewal of our lay Eucharistic ministry and our healing ministry.  I look forward to a strong Sunday school and educational program for the whole parish.  I look forward to a weekly time for contemplative prayer, centering prayer, and perhaps another worship service each week. I’m eager to create new ministries that connect concretely with the Bishop Walker School, Woodley House, and others in our area.  I’m also eager for us to explore ways of being more involved with the Church of All Souls in New Orleans, the Kwasa Centre and School in South Africa, with the St. John Eye Hospital and clinics in the Middle East, and with other projects as they are raised up from our parish. 

There is no way I could begin to thank each one of you who has blessed me and blessed All Souls this year. Thank you for all that you do.  With God’s grace we will continue to share in the seasons of Christ’s love for us and the measures of love we experience will continue to overflow.  John Beddingfield

Almighty and everlasting God, by whose Spirit the whole body of thy faithful people is governed and sanctified: Receive our supplications and prayers which we offer before thee for all members of thy holy Church, that in their vocation and ministry they may truly and godly serve thee; through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.