Good morning, good afternoon, good evening and good night, (think the daily greeting from Truman to his neighbor in the movie “The Truman Show”),
This week, you will receive your annual stewardship packet (If you haven’t already). It will contain all the information you need to make your “Estimate of Giving” for the year 2021. Please prayerfully discern how you might continue your financial giving to the ministry at Holy Trinity and return your “Estimate of Giving Card” back to church by October 25th. Thank you in advance.
The last page in this packet is a letter from the Reconciling in Christ team. As you might remember, just before the pandemic hit, we were in the final stages of becoming a Reconciling in Christ church. This meant that we were in the process of becoming a congregation that makes a public statement affirming that people who identify as part of the LGBTQIA+ community are welcome here and are able to participate fully in the life of our congregation. We got so far in the process as to even scheduling the date when we would have the vote! Unfortunately, due to the pandemic, we were never able to hold the vote or bring the process to completion.
After several conversations, council has asked the RIC team to pick up where we left off. This is what the final page in your packet is about. It provides the dates for conversations and meetings that are still needed. Please read it carefully and think about how may participate. (You will also find a copy of the letter by reading my article below.)
There is one part of the letter that I would like to further explain. Becoming a RIC church will require a congregational meeting and vote. During the pandemic, we are not able to meet, physically, the way we normally would for a congregational meeting. This does not mean we cannot proceed. We are in consultation with other churches, our own constitution and a lawyer to help develop a plan that would allow for us to have a congregational meeting and vote that still adhere to the guidelines of which we are bound. This will entail having the discussion portion of our meeting on zoom, while voting will be done by driving to church to cast a vote in-person, or allowing people to vote electronically (email or perhaps utilizing survey monkey). The final details of this all are still being worked out, but we are confident we can do it with integrity. In fact, we might be able to include more people than if we were to hold the meeting in the sanctuary. Hopefully, all goes smoothly, as we will most likely need to do it again in the coming months to approve a budget for 2021.
These are exciting times for the church in the world today. I am grateful that we are a place that is not letting the pandemic stop us from being who we were made to be. Rather, we are adapting and learning new ways to live out our faith together.
Grace and Peace,
Pastor Tim