Signs of Spring

After days and days of rain and wind and a storm of epic proportions, yesterday and today have been some of the loveliest spring days in my memory, and I am writing this from a spot on my front step in the sun. Although the spring solstice is still a few days away, and although the weather will probably get colder again before spring actually arrives, there are definitely signs of spring all around - warm sunshine, sprouting bulbs and even peepers singing in the woods behind the rectory last night.


There are also signs of spring in my parish. We had a great vestry meeting on Tuesday. The new vestry members were on time for our first official meeting together and obviously ready to go. We had some really good conversations about what our work as leaders would be in the coming year and I felt the sprouts not only of hope, but also excitement peeking out of the dark, cold ground of over a decade of difficulties and hardships as a parish. I also felt a hint of spring last Sunday, when I finally succeeded in persuading the congregation to sit together toward the front of the church instead of being spread out like molecules in their 'regular seats.' From my vantage point at the back of the church before the procession, I saw my whole congregation together in worship for the first time. This was a joy for me, and it also certainly presents a more positive picture of who we are as a community to any newcomers that might happen to visit - we now appear to actually like each other and want to be together. I know this to be the truth beneath our isolated seating habits. Why not make it show?


And there are signs of spring within me, too. I felt great about my church leadership this week, and about my plan to begin delegating tasks and sharing our ministry. It's all well and good to singlehandedly put some steam under some new projects to get the ball rolling and the momentum of hope started, but I've known from the beginning that this church will not live or die by anything I manage to do by myself. It is what we do together that will determine our fate. So I feel a new era of our life together beginning this spring - a time in which we move into mutual discernment and leadership and discover together who God wants us to be. Perhaps after a pretty cold and gray winter I'm longing to stop worrying and to start trusting. For me, I think this spring will be the right time to let go and let God at Grace Church.