We are all, individually and collectively, on a journey. In our United Church context, we openly name – Confess – the things that separate us from God and one another. We struggle, however, with our own stuff. How do we share our own dysfunction, our own brokenness?
Okay, I admit it; I’m often coming back to community as a theme. In fact, were I to be completely honest, I would say that it is central to my own longing that lies at the centre of my faith. And, if I continue on this trajectory, I guess it is also why I am so invested in the necessity for healthy and effective leadership. The promise of a healthy community depends on the leadership that models it.
I was recently at a meeting and it was, as has been the case over the last two years, a meeting in which there was a lot of energy. This particular group of men and women have been meeting to review where the congregation has been, discussing where it currently is, and imaging where the Spirit might be guiding. In times of such intentional reflection there is always richness. This group, as with most that engage with leadership, modelled self-challenge, as well as comfort in listening to ideas that were either new or difficult. I suspect that many who are in leadership, either Ordered or Lay, have been in this place. And, as my own experience has evidenced, there are moments of profound insight, perhaps even revelation …
I remember clearly the “One of these things is not like the others” Sesame Street song from the Cookie Monster a little too often since entering into a formal process toward accountable ministry in the United Church of Canada. Of course it is only now, as I have considered this latest blog why that would be ...
So I am leaving soon, in fact in less than a week. By the time you read this, I will hopefully be a member of a Witnessing Delegation in Israel-Palestine with Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT). I have requested, at the suggestion of CPT, that this Blog and my correspondence with Winnipeg and Tamarack Presbyteries of the United Church of Canada not be released until after the 18th of November.
I was recently at the Annual Gathering of the Conference of Manitoba and Northwestern Ontario. And, as is the wont of our collective gatherings, there was lots of theological reflection, Polity & Process! One very exciting item has been reconsidering the length of the Conference's name - we sure have a propensity for words ... okay, so I am digressing ...