Beloved Friends,
As Lisa takes some well-deserved time away after eleven months of non-stop productivity, it seems like a good time to pause, just for a moment, and reflect both individually and communally.
The Trinity community has begun a slow but steady transformation over this past year, leaving behind some of what we used to be, and heading in the direction of what we are becoming and will be someday soon. Exactly what we’re becoming is a little hard to say with any precision just yet, but since the pace is measured and deliberate, not lurching ahead or stopping short, the journey hasn’t been unnervingly jarring. Just little by little, day by day, moving Godward.
Seth Godin’s daily email recently mused about this process:
What have we become? (And what are we becoming?)
Every day, we change. We move (slowly) toward the person we’ll end up being.
Not just us, but our organizations. Our political systems. Our culture.
Are you more generous than the you of five or ten years ago? More confident? More willing to explore?
Have you become more brittle? Selfish? Afraid?
Grumpy and bitter isn’t a place we begin. It’s a place we end up.
Do we intentionally choose the optimistic path? Are we eagerly more open to change and possibility?
Every day we make the hard decisions that build a culture, an organization, a life….
We are always becoming, and we can always make the choice to start becoming something else, if we care.
Jesus never said, “Sit down and get comfy here with me.” He said, “Follow me.” He’s on the street and on the move; are we? Until the Kingdom of God is at hand, he’s not a supporter of the status quo; are we? He’s not focused on the rosy glow in the rear-view mirror; are we? Remember Presiding Bishop Curry’s description: “We are the Episcopal branch of the Jesus Movement.”
It doesn’t require giant steps. Just forward motion, following the One who is the Way, fueled by the Spirit. And when we’ve got God and good friends along for the ride, there’s really nothing to worry about (“Don’t be afraid.” Where have we heard the before?).
When we look back at this time five years from now, will we marvel at the path we’re on, how much we’ve changed, and what we’ve become (and are still becoming) in downtown Toledo? We will, with God’s help, if we choose to keep moving.
May we never forget that we are loved.
Alice Todd (Sr. Warden) and Becky Roth (Jr. Warden)