11/30/2007
Beyond Coffee Hour
by Tim Westbrook
The theme this week seems to be transition, new people in new roles
and a maturing understanding of what it means to be in transition. To
begin with Bob Gilley resigned as Senior Warden a couple of weeks ago.
Bob took on this role not knowing that he would be given major new
assignments at his job, assignments that would keep him working 60
hour weeks and take him out of the country for large periods of time.
Enough is enough, and something had to give. Bob is staying on the
vestry, but without the burden of a Senior Warden's responsibility in
this busy interim period.
Sunday the vestry elected Frank Rawling to be his replacement. Frank
is a familiar face to most of us, and fortunately retired and full of
energy and pithy wisdom. Unfortunately, he was already chair of the
Search Committee, and like Bob Gilley, enough is enough- he couldn't
possibly do both jobs. So last night the Search Committee elected
Devon Miller-Duggan to be its new chair. Both Frank and Devon have
been around the block a few times, and know our parish and its
idiosyncrasies well. How fortunate we are to have such experienced
leaders willing to step into these demanding roles.
We discussed transitional issues a good bit at our Search Committee
meeting last night. As we have engaged the congregation over the past
several weeks we have stressed our desire to hear everyone's thinking
and the importance of congregational involvement in the search
process. Somewhat to our surprise we are hearing a more passive
response than expected. I have commented on how the focus groups have
seemed uncontroversial. Others have commented how they have heard that
many people simply want the Search Committee to figure it out
ourselves.
But there are other voices stirring too. What great leadership we are
seeing from Jeanne Kress and Lisa Swain on the supper and craft show
this weekend. It looks like another blockbuster event that could never
happen without that leadership and the participation of legions of
others. And "how great it was" to hear Teresa Doggett accept
leadership of the "coffee hour" with the ringing declaration that she
wasn't going to do it alone and would be after us to participate. I
wouldn't want to get in her way!
There are many other examples, most unknown to me. No one has, or
could, replace Lynne Turner. But gradually many of us are seeing that
her good work gets done in other ways. And Ray Nelson is clearly and
intentionally, I think, standing back, almost forcing our lay
leadership to step into the breach. So it seems we are truly
transitioning as we adapt to these new realities with new leaders. And
perhaps we are coming to an understanding that these new roles are
both fun for us individually and enormously healthy for our community.
Of course, then the next question becomes, "Can we live with Indiana
Jones," when we hire him as our new Rector?
