January 20, 2023
Every year I write a Priest's Report for the Annual Report, which is presented at the Annual Meeting. Here is my submission for this year's report, summarizing Saint Anne's in 2022.
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I long to see you so that...you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith. (Romans 1:11)
I remember clearly the first Sunday in 2022 that we could be together for services in person after yet another long span of time of worshiping virtually. Tony and I standing in the office looking out the windows, watching cars pulling into the parking lot and saying “Here they come!” The excitement of children bursting through doors, familiar faces saying, “Good morning! Good morning!”, and welcoming new faces as well. And then there was the flurry of how do we do this again?? The kids have grown, do we still have acolyte robes of the right size? Where are the Sunday morning leadership blocks? Do I have time to grab new batteries for my mic while Tony is playing the prelude? Where is the camera located, so I can greet those joining virtually. Where is the hand sanitizer?!!
In many ways, 2022 was a year of starting over. It has been joyful to be together, and it has been an opportunity to take stock of who and where we are; who and where we want to be. What old traditions still have meaning and joy? What old traditions is it time to let go? What systems are working for us and what systems do we need to tweak? What new needs have come up in our community and wider neighborhoods and how can we serve those new needs?
This was the year we welcomed Naomi Karstad as Choir Director, joining Tony in offering beautiful ways to worship through music, and the year RaeKell Lambert stepped in, first as Interim Children’s Director and now as the “Hey, this is working out really well, let’s keep going a bit!” Children’s Director. This was the year Wendy, Gordon, and Hadley went on to greater glory and our hearts broke. The year we baptized three new Episcopalians and welcomed newborn Estella Joy. We celebrated The Rev. Gwen Powell’s ordination and welcomed Luis Ottley as a priest intern.
This was the year we wrestled with the budget and turned down the heat just one more degree and built both a livestream booth and a healing prayers station in the sanctuary. This was the year we resumed coffee hours and adult education and Eucharistic visiting. We made steps toward installing solar panels at Saint Anne’s. We bonfired!
This was the year we got back, not to “normal”, but to the extraordinary gift of being together.
2022 highlighted that life is better in community. Through the ups and downs, the joys and sorrows, the endings and new beginnings. To come together to be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith is nothing short of a gift. What an honor it is to be encouraged by your faith, your joys, your struggles, your love, your lives. What an honor to be your priest. Thanks be to God.