On Saturday 15 October we will gather as a community for a Visioning Day. Please put the date in your diaries and there will be more information to follow.
Margaret Silf writes;
“There is a story growing inside you… Not just the proverbial one-off novel that each of us is supposed to have tucked away somewhere inside us, just waiting to be expressed. Something bigger than that. Not even just the story of who you are, as an individual, where you come from and where you are going. Now that’s a really interesting story, but it’s not the whole of it. The whole story is bigger than that. Inside of you, and inside of every other one of us, there is a story gestating that is as big as the universe, and as mysterious, and as mind-blowing and as beautiful. And the amazing thing is that when we even begin to explore the narrative of this great story, we find that we are growing inside that story. So, there is a story growing inside you and you are growing inside a story.”
We are tasked with discerning the good and true and beautiful story we can be telling together; a story that is a way of uniquely writing the story of God and God’s kingdom through our lives and relationships. Each one of us has a story, but joined together, that story is part of a much greater narrative.
The task is before us to lean in and listen, to open our eyes and attend to where the Spirit may be leading us, weaving our lives and ministry at St Andrew’s into that greater tapestry of creation. There is a paradox that the small stuff and everyday interactions of our lives matter (to us and to God) …but they also should be held lightly against the backdrop of ‘the story that is as big as the universe’.
Discernment is not easy, but it begins with attention to where life and goodness is emerging around us. This discernment is something we can engage in both individually and corporately.
I hope you will join with me in praying for our community to have wisdom and the gift of attention as we discern the directions and priorities of our future ministry and mission in the months ahead.
You may like to pray this prayer for mission used by the Anglican Church of Southern Queensland:
Living God,
creator, redeemer, strengthener;
enliven, guide and strengthen your Church in all you send us to do.
By your Holy Spirit enable us to grow –
in faith,
in service,
in generous giving;
and add to your Church new disciples
that your saving, reconciling, recreating work may go forward,
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Grace and peace,
Sue+
