February 2009
When Sharon and I presented the “Looking Ahead to 2009” segment of the Annual Meeting on January 25th, I started with the statement “We have an exciting, Spirit-filled year of growth and opportunity ahead of us at Redlands United Church of Christ!” I had written that the night before without any idea of what an exciting, spirit-filled event the Annual Meeting itself was going to be!
Redlands UCC is ready to take on some big challenges in 2009 and the Annual Meeting was the culmination of weeks of conversation to decide what the year will look like. There were numerous meetings with Personnel, Stewards, the Church Board, Shepherds and their flocks, and open congregational meetings. Some folks might call those efforts “planning” but it was not so much a planning effort as it was a discerning effort. And really, not so much a discerning effort as it was a contemplative effort. It’s almost like our congregation already knew what it wants to do, no, needs to do in 2009 and just needed to sit with that for a while.
We have set in motion an ambitious plan that, among other things, will bring us an Associate Pastor and begin providing health and retirement options for our greater-than-halftime employees. We are going to be challenged logistically and financially to bring this to fruition. But, at every meeting leading up to the Annual Meeting, I heard time and again that we can do it; we must do it. There was no doubt in any of those voices, only resolve.
It was that resolve, that confidence, that willingness to take on and accomplish difficult goals that permeated the Annual Meeting. Everyone looked at the chart that showed the difference between projected income and projected expenses and voted. The chorus of “ayes” was strong, resolute, confident, optimistic, and ready to accomplish that which we all knew we needed. Not someone else’s plan for us; not a straw proposal put together by a committee; not a pie-in-the-sky hopeful dream; but rather, a fundamental expression of who we are. It’s a roadmap to a place we are all familiar with, and a place we can get to with our eyes closed: our home.
This is an exciting, Spirit-filled time and as RUCC turns the page for the 34th time to a new chapter, we are warmed by the memory of the many pages that have gone before. The story is new yet ancient. It is invigorating yet comforting. It is challenging yet supportive. And, as our lives become the words on the pages, together, we seek justice, love kindness and walk humbly with our God.
With optimism and hope,
Loring Fiske-Phillips
