Annual Parish Meeting 2012

 

The 176^th Annual Parish Meeting was held at Grace Church on Sunday, January 22, 2012. 

If you would like to view a pdf version of our Annual Report, please click on the attachment at the bottom of this page.

Following are speeches given at the Annual Meeting by our Senior Warden, Amy Fox and our Priest-in-Charge, The Rev. Jan Smith Wood.

 

Amy Fox -

Good Morning and welcome to the 176^th Annual Parish Meeting.  I would like to begin by thanking all of you.  A year ago you put a lot of faith in a woman, who had very little experience in running an organization as large and important as this one.  I had no idea I would spend as much time and energy as I have within these stone walls.  I also found out that patience is probably the most important characteristic a Senior Warden must possess to accomplish anything in this job.

 

Our church has gone through a lot of change in the past several years.  We went through a period of doldrums, to a time of major upheaval, to a year of healing and soul-searching.  There was much hard work done here, and without it, we would never have been ready to move forward as we have.  And as much as we didn’t want to go through the past few years, all of it has been necessary to get to where we are now.  I want to thank all of you for your willingness to stay the course.  I know it wasn’t easy.

 

Last year, we asked three wonderful gentlemen to help calm the waters and work as our Supply Ministers, while we looked for a permanent rector.  We had no idea how this schedule would work, but John, John and Webster made it look simple.  Then we hired a new secretary, just to see if we could shake things up a little more.  Debbie Chase came with many great skills, but very little working knowledge of all things Episcopal.  And again, these gentlemen stepped right up and taught her what she needed to know.  She took that knowledge and meticulously put together an office to be proud of.  She has archived all of the important papers that have been collecting dust around here for the past 50 years.  And considering the fact that when Debbie took this job, she had no idea who her boss would finally be, or if she’d even like this person, she put her faith in us and asked only if there was anything more she could do to help us in our church office.  I’d like to thank Debbie Chase for having faith in us, and for making our lives so much easier.

Last year, at this meeting, Cathy Nasonti announced she would no longer be able to work as our Parish Nurse.  It took us five months to find a replacement for her, and I believe everyone will agree that Jolene Mills has done an amazing job in this position.  Since she started working at Grace Church, we have come to realize that she is doing for us, what we are doing for our community.  While we have been caring for others, she has been caring for us.  While we were making dresses for Haiti, knitting shawls and scarves, feeding the hungry, providing schools supplies for those in need, donating to Care and Share and to Kinship through our Outreach programs, Jolene has been doing in-reach for us.  We now know that the In-Reach is as important as the Outreach.  If you’re not sure of the impact Jolene has had on us, turn to your neighbor in this room and ask them how she has touched their lives.  You’ll be amazed at her reach.  She’s at the church to council patients with medical questions.  She’s at the hospital with our sick and injured.  She’s in our homes with the home bound.  She’s even with us at our doctor’s appointments to help us understand what the doctor is telling us.  This year we are asking Jolene to give us more of her time, because we are worth it.  She will be investing 2 days a week with us, beginning this month.

A year ago I had a small conversation with Kalene Brown about a collection of medieval religious manuscripts her fiancé owns.  Today there are many in conversation at Grace Church about John Lawrence’s collection.  It is our goal to put on an exhibition of these manuscripts and artifacts in the fall of 2012 right here at Grace Church.  In the upcoming months you will be hearing about, or working with us on many different aspects of this exhibit.  Beginning in late October and going through early December, we will host tours, man a bookstore, and offer special events surrounding this exhibit.  We will open our doors to hundreds of people from all over Ohio and beyond who want to see this collection, and who will walk away, talking about our Amazing Grace Church.  We have an opportunity to show ourselves as the warm and welcoming community that we really are, and give Ohio a different perspective on what this small community has to offer.  This year looks to be a very exciting time for us, and the opportunities that come from it could be endless.     

    

Finally I would like to thank our Priest-In-Charge, Jan Smith Wood.  At this time last year we had not met, or even heard of Jan, and yet she already knew who we were.  She had been following our Parish Profile online for several months.  At first she was told we’d found someone, and that we were off the market. Then in late January she found that we were back on the radar, and went out of her way to impress upon the powers that be that this was the job she had been looking for.  By the time Becky and I met her in Cleveland, we had no doubt she would be perfect for us, and still feel strongly that she’s the right person for the job.  If I thought I was busy before she came to Sandusky, I now look back and wonder what I did with all my spare time!  While most of you know her by her thought provoking sermons and her kind demeanor at coffee hour, I see the skilled business side of her.  She has taken on all the duties of this position without hesitation, and is balancing all aspects of the church with a keen business sense and immense understanding.  In other words, she the whole enchilada, and we are thrilled to have her here.  So, again I would like to thank Jan Smith Wood for accepting the position of Priest-In-Charge at Grace Church, and I look forward to a very exciting new year for all of us here at Grace.

 

Jan Smith Wood –

Amy’s correct:  this time last year, we were completely unknown to one another.  When I realize that, I wonder “How can it be?”   Our time together, my work with and among you, seems so natural and familiar that it is hard to believe we’ve only been doing this for 144 days.  In the time since September 1^st, we have been woven together in ways that make it clear, to me at least, that this is of God.

As many of you know, a lot of people were involved in this match-making:  the wardens, the vestry, Bishop Hollingsworth, Canon Grant…  We were all engaged in honest, candid conversations about our pasts, our strengths, our dreams, and about God’s dream for you and for me.  It seemed good that we give it a try together. 

There was much in the story-telling that drew me to you.  Very different people had a very similar understanding of Grace Episcopal Church, its people, mission, and potential.  They spoke of your hospitality and hope.  They understand you to be a community of much good done in the past and superb potential to do even more in the future.  They know you to be folks who have gone through good times and hard times and persevered with hope and (a little) hard-headedness.  They believe that you can do great things for Christ’s sake – given encouragement, support, and love.  Grace Episcopal Church has been called a powerhouse-in-waiting: ready to burst forth with energy, enthusiasm, and vigor to make a difference on Ohio’s north coast.   I have found that to be so. And more.

I have experienced you as a people filled with grace.  Overflowing with warm welcome and genuine care.  Willing to try new things – even when they kinda-sorta set your teeth on edge.  Prepared to stay in the conversation, persist in making things right, state your mind, and listen to others.  You are people anxious to leave a legacy of commitment, faithfulness, and a healthy church to the generations to come.  You are unafraid to ask hard questions – of yourselves and others.  Of course, you’re not perfect. I’m not perfect. We’re not perfect.  We’re human.

We have made a lot of changes in the last 144 days.  Some of these have been welcome changes and smooth transitions.  Some are still in process.  Others have hit a snag or two along the way.  In the course of this change-making, our assumptions become apparent.  The way each person deals with conflict, or the hint of conflict, is laid bare.  Our preferences for fight or flight kick into overdrive.  It is very important to me that you know on this day what I believe about change and the conflict it can raise up. 

Although I don’t seek it out or try to create it – preferring consensus and collaboration to conflict - when conflict emerges it can be good, creative, and healthy.  I believe that we argue about that which really matters – and that disagreement is a good thing.  With many perspectives (which may only be revealed when we’re exercised enough to get past pseudo-cordiality), we can discern God’s perspective – or at least see a good next step.  I believe that it is vital to stay at the table and speak one’s truth.  It is important that we speak the truth in love, honor the other, and remain respectful, and it is equally important that we remain in conversation.  Nothing good can ever come from walking away in anger, talking to everyone but the one with whom you have an issue, behind-the-scenes manipulation, or verbal abuse.  Barring those particularly disrespectful modes of behavior, all things are possible in community here by the grace of God.  Speak your mind.  Articulate your hopes.  Encourage others. Listen well. Participate in the discussion.  Join the debate.  Know that you matter. Your perspective is important. Your voice shall be heard.  Without you, we are a paler image of Christ whose body we purport to be.

As the Body of Christ, and a community of life-long affections, we are diminished by the departure of those whom we love.  It is time that we remember with love and gratitude those who died in 2011:

John Bailey

Ginny Becker

Jene Cronk

Bud Everingham

Margaret Keller

Betty Neiding

Eleanor Scheid

Helen Wahlers

Edith Zoliniak

Almighty God, with whom still live the spirits of those who die in the Lord, and with whom the souls of the faithful are in joy and felicity:  We give you heartfelt thanks for the good examples of all your servants, who, having finished their course in faith, now find rest and refreshment. May we, with all who have died in the true faith of your holy Name, have perfect fulfillment and bliss in your eternal and everlasting glory, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

It is equally important that we raise up with delight those who have been born into our community:

Christopher Brian Coffey

Lilah Ann Dickman

And those married in our midst:  John Michael Lawrence and Kaleen Sue Brown.

Watch over your children, O Lord, as their days increase: bless and guide them wherever they may be. Strengthen them when they stand; comfort them when discouraged or sorrowful. Raise them up when they fall; and in their hearts may your peace passing all understanding abide all the days of their lives. Amen.

We stand at the beginning of our first full calendar year together.  A great deal of exciting work beckons us from the near horizon.  We are just beginning to get ready to prepare for some great adventures together. 

In the early days of my arrival here to serve as your priest and pastor, I was asked what my vision for Grace is.  Initially in the wake of this question, I felt a complete failure: I didn’t come with a vision for Grace Episcopal Church at the intersection of Wayne, Huron, and Washington Streets in Sandusky!  After a good long time of contemplating the question – and ruing my inability to answer coherently – I realized that I do have a vision, or a hope, for the community and people of Grace.  It’s a vision with two complementary poles: human and divine. 

On the one hand, my hope – and vision – is that the people of Grace will begin to know, really know, that God is in all of this.  God is present in the wounding and the rejoicing.  God is here in the uncertainty and in the accomplishments.  God is calling us, whispering to us, loving us, into an abundant and joyful future.  A future that only Grace can fulfill.  God has plans for us. Of that I am absolutely, 100% confident.  It is up to us to discern what those plans are.  It is up to us to become the kind of church that God’s mission needs. It is up to us to be open to the presence and work of God. 

There’s a car with a bumper sticker in the parking lot of my apartment building that reads WIGIAT.  The fine print says “Where is God in all this?”  That’s one pole of the emergent vision for Grace: to ask where is God in all this? To know that we will find many answers to the question.  God is before us. God is in here. God is over there. God is holding us up. God is often silent but never absent.  God is always busy. God is behind us and around us and in us.

But how do we know that?  How do we answer the WIGIAT question?  This is the second pole: the human one.  We become the kind of church that God’s mission needs by paying attention to the context of our lives. By saying ‘yes’ to the opportunities that come our way.  By loving what-is and building it up, rather than yearning for what-is-not.  We become the kind of church that God’s mission needs when we embrace the circumstances, contexts, and content of our community, our lives, and our relationships.   We get answers to the WIGIAT question when we look at life through eyes that see every glass as half-full, every wind as blowing good, every snowstorm as bringing bright beauty.  We pay attention.  We step outside the confines of what we know we can do and try new things.  We expect an adventure… When we do that faithfully, I know that God’s vision, God’s mission, God’s presence will become apparent, real, and vibrantly life-giving.

We have been given a couple of opportunities recently to say “yes” to adventure.  As Amy announced, we will be hosting an exhibition of ancient and medieval manuscripts from the collection of John Lawrence.  This is the third largest private collection in the nation and it will be here in the Mary Simpson Room in the Fall.  This is an incredibly exciting project and we are confident that it will draw people to Grace Episcopal Church, make an important contribution to the life and culture of the area, and be the kind of integrated evangelism at which the Episcopal Church excels.  It is a huge undertaking and a novel experiment, yes.  It is also one which we are completely capable of doing and doing extremely well.  A great adventure with God’s help.

Another great adventure opening up for us is to discern and plan for the Thrift Shop’s next 65 years.  As we will note with celebratory gratitude in a few minutes, after 25 years of stellar service Janet Senne announced her retirement from Thrift Shop management as of December 31^st.  We are extremely grateful to Janet, and to all the volunteers, who made the Thrift Shop an important presence in downtown Sandusky for generations.  As with every change in leadership, this moment is a natural time to take stock, dream dreams, check into current realities and needs, and determine what exactly is the mission and ministry of the Thrift Shop, and how will it be constellated in the coming years.  This is not a step to be taken lightly, or in isolation, but a discernment process that requires the participation, experience, hopes and vision (not to mention hard work!) of many. 

As we move forward together into new adventures in being the church, reaching out to others, worshipping together, proclaiming the gospel, letting our light shine at the intersection of Huron, Wayne, and Washington and beyond, may we never be afraid or timid but confident that God is present in it all and that we are becoming the church that God’s mission needs.

Let us pray…

Almighty and eternal God, so draw our hearts to you, so guide our minds, so fill our imaginations, so control our wills, that we may be wholly yours, utterly dedicated to you; then use us, we pray, as you will, and always to your glory, and the welfare of your people; through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.