Vision Imagined

Each Tuesday the staff of St. John’s comes together for a meeting, to check the calendar and plan out how we are going to go about doing the business of running the church. Important stuff. Who unlocks the doors in the morning? What group is using Hansen Hall this week, how we can support them? Are worship services ready, are the logistics sorted out? Who’s on ice cream bike duty- oh wait, the 4th is coming up, we need extra ice cream. It’s time to start working up the 2024 budget. Vestry meeting Wednesday, are we ready? Outdoor service on July 2nd, so we need chairs, the sound system, who’s on setup? What about the flotilla?

These are the nuts and bolts of running the church. These are the details that must be attended to, and the details matter. I’ve never worked with a group of people who are better at implementing a plan. Actually, at implementing multiple plans concurrently.

Here’s the rub though: it could be possible to get lost in the details, to think that keeping the machine running is why we do what we do. So, under Jimmy’s brilliant leadership, we start every Tuesday morning staff meeting, not with the calendar, but with a reflection. This can be a reading from scripture, or a poem, or an excerpt from a contemporary thinker. It can be anything that draws us towards our hearts first because that is where the work of the church begins, in our hearts. Our reflection this week was prompted by a reading from Walter Brueggemann’s The Prophetic Imagination.

My favorite line reads “…for questions of implementation are of no consequence until the vision can be imagined.”

Such a simple turn, and rarely easy, from implementing plans to imagining and living the bigger vision. If you listen, you hear it here at St. John’s. If we pay attention, we can see it in our own lives. We are children of God, beloved, unique and common in all the best ways.

I’m doing what I can to remember this, not only in my work life, but in my whole life, and I encourage you to try to do the same. We are trained to be good implementers, to make plans and to follow steps, to grease the wheels of our lives to achieve our goals. All well and good, but the question we need to ask ourselves is why? What is the vision that my heart is calling me towards? Where do I hear the voice of God calling me to love creation, to love and respect the dignity of others, to celebrate this very day, this once and forever? So read a poem. Take a walk. Open your imagination and listen to your heart. It’s all in there.

Peace,

Brian