Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Greetings to all my brothers and sisters in Christ, and especially my family here in California-Pacific: I am so glad that we will have another four years in ministry together! The combination of Annual and Jurisdictional conferences along with my other travels have kept me from this regular posting to you lately, but I trust you will understand and take a few moments with me now to pause and reflect.

It is indeed good news that we have such an abundance of leadership that our jurisdiction took it’s time to elect Bishops Hagiya and Stanovsky. While I would have enjoyed a bit more sleep instead of a few more ballots, in the end, good decisions were made, and we will all benefit from strong leadership for years to come.

For myself, I am genuinely enthusiastic about staying with our mission here in the Los Angeles Area. We know a change would have meant many sad goodbyes, but more importantly, we know that changing leadership creates a major pause in the momentum of ministry. Author William Bridges talks about this in his book “Transitions,” noting that real change must be marked by a “neutral phase” and intentionally letting go of many former behaviors and assumptions. In contrast, we are now emboldened to press forward, to reach higher and farther, to stretch ourselves into the future of our shared ministries.

As we enter into these next four years, my eyes are on the horizon. For much of this past year, I have had my head down, eyes focused on critical work that had to be concluded before the end of July and the announcement of assignments. Now I can look out and across to see where God is leading us next.

Where we are looking will define where we go: the scripture for this Sunday is the story of Peter stepping out from the boat in a storm to meet Jesus walking across the waves (Matthew 14:22-33.) He was successful right up to the point where he took his eyes off Jesus and noticed the strong wind blowing across the waters: it is then that he begins to sink, and calls out for Jesus to save his life.

Believe it or not, there is a bicycling version of this. It’s true on the road but even more-so off-road, on dirt trails: imagine riding with your head down, focused on the small patch of ground just in front of your tire. Now imagine riding really fast while only looking at that spot: it can’t be done, safely at least. Instead, to keep your balance and your bearings, you have to look ahead—the faster you go, the farther ahead you must see. Where you are going tells you which way to steer right in the moment of Now. Take your eyes off the future, and you’ll crash—or like Peter, sink.

Now is the time for us to be looking to the horizon, a future at least four years out. There are more than enough details for us to tend to, details that will have us looking down closely (and sometimes scratching our heads!) But now in this late summer, I invite you to pause and be in prayer with me: what do you see during the next four years? Which ways do you see that we should go? I would appreciate hearing from you, as we savor these remaining days of summer.


Your sister and bishop in Christ, Mary Ann