We are many and we are opinionated! How do we describe ourselves as a community and
not just as a collection of individuals? Each with our hopes and dreams for the future of our
beloved St Clare’s? Well……fortunately we have found an excellent tool to help us with this
task. It began with the CAT survey many of us completed late last year. Then, your vestry
received the statistical results of the survey at the vestry retreat last month and more recently
received a narrative interpretation of those results.
We are very encouraged by the reports which indicate that we are thus far managing our
transition well. We continue our outward focus on the world around us as we work toward our
own healing and adjust to our evolving selves with a strong sense of energy and hopefulness.
Perfect? Not quite. Fortunately, God is not finished with us yet.
Perhaps the most exciting and enlightening step in this transition will happen in the spring
when we engage together in “Holy Conversations”. This will be our chance to talk in small
groups (5 to 8) about who we are, who we want to become, and develop a “parish profile” that
will help guide us in the search for our next rector. This self understanding will be vital in
helping us find the right fit between ourselves and the priest who will join us in the next stage
of our spiritual journey.
So, let’s do some hard thinking and praying now about who we are and who we want to
become. We have a wonderful opportunity now to focus on this. How can we shine our light a
little brighter? Where can our gifts be best used to help bring our world closer to peace and
justice?
With the love and peace of the Holy Spirit
Linda Henny