Food for Thought

In 1977, I came to a friend’s wedding in the chapel at St. James’ Church. The priest was Carol Anderson. I knew nothing about St. James’ or Carol Anderson then. I have since learned about Carol and her important place in the history of St. James’ and the Episcopal Church. I was thrilled to meet her and to hear her speak today.

Carol’s messages looked to the future – exactly where the St. James’ community should be looking and going! She asked, “What do you really want from Jesus?” and indicated that the raised expectations here point to more than we settle for. The Gospel (John 5:1-9) is primarily an Easter story of new life. In the forum, The Church Tomorrow, she talked about how continuing as we have in the past will not be the answer to meeting the needs of the most involved, the marginally involved or the searching. She threw out lots of ideas and questions that are definitely food for thought. Here are some that struck me: aim resources at the very best; address the needs of people yearning to get to know God; become churches that are “lean, mean and centered;” continue worship in a variety of forms as central to our faith; work towards more in-depth projects in conjunction with other churches to make a difference, rather than duplicating entry level projects at each church; fine-tune and maintain church web sites that will become more and more valuable, not just for information but for teaching and classes; offer opportunities in varied locations, meet people where they are; teach parishioners to become self-feeders and to nurture each other.

Today gave me lots to think about. I wonder how St. James’ unlimited future will differ from its faithful past? Future changes are inevitable. How will we look in our third century?

—Jan Golann