Rector's Note, 9/18/26
Dear IAC,
It’s been a packed couple of weeks! I have several updates I want to share with you:
Today, I am participating in our Diocesan Synod, which is where all of the ordained clergy and elected lay leaders of the entire diocese (Reformed Episcopal Diocese of the Southeast) gather to conduct the business of the diocese for the year ahead. Synod is always a joyful time of coming together for worship and fellowship, as well as doing the important work of updating the rest of the diocese on the work of the past year, and deliberating over how we work together well in the year ahead. Please keep the Synod in your prayers today and tomorrow, that the proceedings would be marked by faithfulness, unity, and wisdom in the Spirit.
This past weekend, our newly elected vestry members and I gathered for our very first IAC Vestry Retreat! We identified a number of goals for the parish in the year ahead. In particular, there was a shared desire to 1) find a morning worship space, and 2) add another clergyman to our staff to keep up with the growing size and needs of the parish. We also identified key opportunities for improvement, particularly stewarding our volunteer teams well, and avoiding the ever-present danger of burning out our super-volunteers. There are a number of developments on this front already in the works! More details on that to come soon.
But here is my takeaway from the vestry retreat: We are very much in our “Tabernacle phase” as a church. We long for a church home of our own, a place we can utilize throughout the week for the life and worship of the Church. This is exactly how the Hebrews must have felt as they journeyed through the wilderness for 40 years, rejoicing in the Lord bringing them out of slavery in Egypt, but also longing for the day they would no longer be sojourners worshiping out of a tent. We know from the Scriptures that the Lord was doing a great work in the souls of His people through that wilderness time, and I trust that likewise, the Lord is using every minute and every sacrifice of our Tabernacle phase to transform us and strengthen us all for the work He has ahead of us. The challenge for us in this season is to persevere in faithfulness: by not becoming more passive as we wait on the Lord, but by becoming ever more bold and persistent in our prayers. To that end, I beseech you all to join me in a season of prayer, as we cry out to the Lord to aid us in finding an additional clergyman, and finding our “starter home” as a parish. And for the patience to continually grow in faith during our Tabernacle phase. As our Savior tells us, “Ye have not, because ye ask not... Ask, and it shall be given unto you.” And remember: specific prayers get specific answers.
I look forward to worshiping with you Sunday!
Grace and Peace,
Fr. Spencer+
Dear IAC,
It’s been a packed couple of weeks! I have several updates I want to share with you:
Today, I am participating in our Diocesan Synod, which is where all of the ordained clergy and elected lay leaders of the entire diocese (Reformed Episcopal Diocese of the Southeast) gather to conduct the business of the diocese for the year ahead. Synod is always a joyful time of coming together for worship and fellowship, as well as doing the important work of updating the rest of the diocese on the work of the past year, and deliberating over how we work together well in the year ahead. Please keep the Synod in your prayers today and tomorrow, that the proceedings would be marked by faithfulness, unity, and wisdom in the Spirit.
This past weekend, our newly elected vestry members and I gathered for our very first IAC Vestry Retreat! We identified a number of goals for the parish in the year ahead. In particular, there was a shared desire to 1) find a morning worship space, and 2) add another clergyman to our staff to keep up with the growing size and needs of the parish. We also identified key opportunities for improvement, particularly stewarding our volunteer teams well, and avoiding the ever-present danger of burning out our super-volunteers. There are a number of developments on this front already in the works! More details on that to come soon.
But here is my takeaway from the vestry retreat: We are very much in our “Tabernacle phase” as a church. We long for a church home of our own, a place we can utilize throughout the week for the life and worship of the Church. This is exactly how the Hebrews must have felt as they journeyed through the wilderness for 40 years, rejoicing in the Lord bringing them out of slavery in Egypt, but also longing for the day they would no longer be sojourners worshiping out of a tent. We know from the Scriptures that the Lord was doing a great work in the souls of His people through that wilderness time, and I trust that likewise, the Lord is using every minute and every sacrifice of our Tabernacle phase to transform us and strengthen us all for the work He has ahead of us. The challenge for us in this season is to persevere in faithfulness: by not becoming more passive as we wait on the Lord, but by becoming ever more bold and persistent in our prayers. To that end, I beseech you all to join me in a season of prayer, as we cry out to the Lord to aid us in finding an additional clergyman, and finding our “starter home” as a parish. And for the patience to continually grow in faith during our Tabernacle phase. As our Savior tells us, “Ye have not, because ye ask not... Ask, and it shall be given unto you.” And remember: specific prayers get specific answers.
I look forward to worshiping with you Sunday!
Grace and Peace,
Fr. Spencer+