My dear (new) friends of St. Andrew’s:
Greetings in the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ!
I know Anne has given you something of an introduction, but as the
time for me to join you quickly draws close (March 1), I wanted to drop a note
to you myself. I am so looking
forward to beginning ministry with and among you! From a full and dedicated community of faith
to facilities and resources, there seems to be unlimited potential for all we
can accomplish for God’s kingdom come on earth.
Ministerially (my spell-check says this isn’t a word!) speaking,
with Anne’s blessing I’ll be focusing time and energy on a number of things,
not the least of which is Divine Love (it is the first word out of Jesus’ mouth
when questioned about the greatest commandment, as well as his parting counsel
to the disciples) as the foundational standard against which every decision
made, every action taken, should be measured.
With Love as that foundational principle, the Church is uniquely poised
to embody the imperatives of our Baptismal Covenant to seek and serve Christ in
all persons, respecting the dignity of each person as made in the image of
God. Other areas include the sacredness
and centrality of our Common worship; facilitating opportunities for our
children and youth, as well as adults, to be ever-deeply formed in the Faith
through prayer, education, and activity in our local, diocesan and national
church contexts (Episcopal Youth Event in July, anyone?); continuing
enthusiastically to encourage offering one another the ministry of presence in
pastoral care; and with the Church finding herself in the midst of a seismic cultural shift where participation in a faith
community is no longer the predominant social expectation, embracing an
entrepreneurial spirit and exploring creative, even innovative, ways to engage
ourselves and our communities with the good news of the Gospel. I am especially excited about the potential
to (no pun intended) build on the foundation of the good work that has been
done to reimagine the school building as an Outreach Center for the people of
St. Andrew’s to offer truly impactful ministry in the Newport News area.
I’ve also been exploring a lot of the Newport News area for coffee
shops, Taekwondo schools, places to connect with the natural world, and other
venues of interest (arts, music, culture...; real seafood, too!). At this writing, I’m not exactly sure where
I’ll be living yet, but I’m not worried about it; I really appreciate Chris
Robinson’s help with this. With all the
logistics of selling a house, moving, and for Leticia, securing her RN/DNP
licensure in Virginia, she and Elizabeth (who is near completing her Child
Development Associate degree) will be joining us sometime later. Hopefully at some point you’ll get to meet my
older daughter, Shelby, who lives in Florida, is a Disney Cast Member and YMCA
lifeguard/instructor, and is working on her master’s degree in medical
information systems; and my youngest daughter, Rebecca, who is a sophomore at
Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana, studying Speech and Language
Pathology (but who is making lots of noise about transferring to a school in
Florida, the state where she was born).
So there you have it in a nutshell - as if we can actually keep
the Spirit thus contained! Still, I am
looking forward to joining Anne and the staff, and getting to know everyone at
St. Andrew’s as we work together to draw people into a deeper knowledge of,
love of, and service to the Lord. See
you on March 1!
Peace and blessings,
Marc
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