The Rev. Patricia Hanen, PhD., is an exceptional preacher, a spiritual guide, and a pastoral caregiver. She can care for us, deepen our faith and awareness of God, open our eyes to the needs of others, and help us to be a witness to Christ to the outside world.
A graduate of Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, MA, Pat has always been involved in small parish ministry. She has stated that “my job as clergy leader [is] to preach, teach, celebrate, innovate, and 'care' us into developing still further what God is already doing among the people of New Life.”
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Written by Rev. Patricia Hanen
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Thursday, 25 February 2010 00:00 |
In the last two weeks, I have been thinking about the process of growing the church, among many other things. . . .
Before I was admitted to the ordination process in the Diocese of Washington I was a parishioner at St. Columba's Episcopal Church there. When I started going there, they had about 370 souls on the rolls. They had one full-time and one part-time clergyperson. They had one part-time paid admin assistant and four of us "weekday ladies"--I was Wednesday, because my Georgetown teaching schedule permitted it. All the Sunday-school and adult-education activities, all the outreach and in-reach ministries, and all the lay participation in worship from acolytes to readers (no Eucharistic Ministers way back then), were volunteer- or clergy-led. Now it seems like a big church for so few paid staff--there were two p/t sextons (big building maintenance), a part-time organist and choir director (who did children's choir, two services with music, an adult choir, and a nascent adult ensemble, all as p/t).
As I look back, I guess that 370 souls on the rolls made a huge difference: St. C's could have people in the pews AND people on committees; people doing outreach ministries AND people doing inreach ministries; contemplative pray-ers AND youth group leaders; stewardship campaigns AND adult education; vestry business AND a concert series. As I look back, more was more. And I see that my sense of what is possible at New Life is modeled on St C's abundance in those years (which has led on to further abundance: now about 3500 on the rolls, IN THE SAME SET OF BUILDINGS, a full-time staff of probably eight people, and a budget in some years larger than that of the Diocese of Ohio).
What made for that abundance, and helped it grow? An attitude of openness to new things and a willingness to experiment and learn from things that bombed. The sense that worship was at the center of all else that happened, while acknowledging that, even in worship, God made chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry (and, maybe, mint chip). The sense that real relationship--with God and one another inside the church community--was what mattered most of all, and that those relationships were best achieved by affinity, not pigeonholing. (St. C's isn't now and wasn't then a neighborhood church--people came from all over the DC metro area; kids in SS and youth group didn't see one another in school, and their parents didn't belong to the same neighborhood groups or civic organizations, or work in the same businesses/agencies.) The church offered and even sometimes designed programs, and people voted with their time according to where they felt God's Presence most strongly and where they made real relationships with other people. Washington is a high-turnover place, and those friendships kept people saner and happier. People disagreed about "The Faith" and about "The Church" in the same ways they do everywhere. But at St. C's they talked about it and they tried to learn from one another--not just to be civil; not just to be informed; but to support one another genuinely in caring action and prayer and in real "stay-at-the-table even when you disagree" ways.
One of the reasons I admire New Life (that's YOU!) is that I see a lot of the same abundance-ingredients here. Last night we actually had two unrelated events (Stephen Ministers' meeting with program, and the Lenten study) at the same time. And there were about 35 people in the building for three hours. It is GREAT to have more than one thing going on at the same time, and to let go of the unspoken rule that we all have to turn out for the same things in order for them to be "successful." And on Saturday we'll have another (a different!) 30 people in the building for the lock-in. I was only at one of last night's meetings; I'll be at the lock-in, but mostly because I want to be part of the fun; I hear at second- or third-hand sometimes about things that happen in your lives--that means your life-giving relationships are with one another in the experience and the affinity you have together. One of the other things that happens as a church grows is that the clergyperson becomes more necessary for encouraging and cheerleading and teaching and supporting than for having every idea and executing them all, or for providing all the pastoral care, or all the education, or even all the worship direction.
I think we have a good foundation for the kind of growth we hope for. And I think God thinks we're getting ready: we have had 23 visitors since January 1. We have something like six new households since last June. Not everyone who visits will come back (see "chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, and mint chip," above); not every one who comes back will stay. But people whom YOU touch will find their experience of God and their relationships with you mattering more and more in their lives. And we'll deal with the "blooming, buzzing confusion" and the growing pains, and thank God for it all.
So please: keep inviting and welcoming, even though we're in Lent. (Come this Sunday and see what the young people have been up to at the lock-in. Gulp!) Try at least one of the Lenten studies on Native American Spirituality--people found it interesting and challenging last night. Give us your comments on the new Welcoming Process we'll premiere on March 7--if you notice it! Think about what you'd like to see at "Dinner And A Movie" starting in Easter season, and others you'd like to hear in concert as we continue that through the summer. The St. Columba model to me means encouraging and communicating the vitality and diversity of our spiritual life together, centered in God's love for us and our love for one another and the world into which God sends us. It's not a bad model. What do you think?
Love, Pat
PS: Here's a little quotation from the St. C Day by Day book of quotations having to do with the spiritual life in Lent--they publish one every year, with quotations suggested by church members and paired with biblical passages for further reflection. This one is paired with Luke 9:18-25, and is from God in Ordinary Time, a book written by the religious order of the Carmelites of Indianapolis: "We all carry a bit of light and darkness within ourselves, and we have the freedom to shed one or the other on those around us. We may not be able to make peace happen in a war-torn country or to stem the tide of violence on our streets. But in our own homes, offices, or communities we have the power to let the light of gentleness and peace, and sometimes joy, shine." |
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