Keeping the Faith in the Interim Time:
Thoughts, Views and Opinions from your Interim Vicar
"Who are we? How are we different now as a congregation? What do people say about us?!”
(Developmental Task #2 Discovering a New Identity)
Thousands of years ago, there was, living in Egypt, a young man of privilege called Moses. Moses had been adopted as an infant by the daughter of the great Pharaoh. When he was older he discovered that he had been born the son of Hebrew slaves. One day, as he was watching the slaves make bricks to build the magnificent pyramids, he came upon an Egyptian overseer beating an old Hebrew man because he was not working fast enough. Moses was outraged and killed the overseer. When he realized that, in spite of his position, he would be held accountable for killing an Egyptian official he fled the country. He went to a land called Midian and there discovered the God of Abraham, the first man to enter into a sacred relationship with the Almighty. Abraham’s agreement with God was simple. If Abraham agreed to worship God, and God alone, then God would give Abraham and his family God’s special protection.
Moses learned that the Hebrew slaves were the descendants of Abraham through Jacob’s son, Joseph, who also lived a privileged life in Pharaoh’s court. But things had changed in Egypt over the years. The Hebrews became slaves and were forced to do the manual labor which the Egyptians refused to do. Moses, while in Midian, encountered the living God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, who told him that he must go back to Egypt and ask a new Pharaoh to let the Hebrew people go. Well, we know the rest of the story…how Pharaoh refused to lose his cheap laborers…how plagues and disastrous events were sent to the Egyptians…how the Hebrews left Egypt and went through the parted waters of the Red Sea, escaping the pursuing Egyptian army who drowned when the waters came back together. Now what? They had escaped, but what uncertain future were they facing?
So what’s the point of bringing up this story? Well, we too, here at St. Philip’s are facing an unknown future. We are in a time of transition between settled clergy. What kind of priest do we want to come to serve us as our spiritual leader and guide? The answer to that is very simple. We just don’t know right now! One of the reasons for this lack of clarity is that we can’t really, really define who we are as the people of God who worship and are spiritually fed at St. Philip’s. We know that things are not the same now that our previous vicar has gone. We have an interim who does things differently, who preaches differently, and who says things differently. It seems a little bit frightening to some people that the old and familiar things seem to be fading away. How do we hold on to the past? Well, the answer to that is we simply can’t. The story of St. Philip’s is that we were never stuck in one place. All of you have been on a journey since Father Martin Yabroff founded this parish seventeen years ago!
When the Hebrews found themselves in new circumstances they had to learn to describe themselves in new ways. They were no longer slaves in Egypt, they were free people wandering, seeking the Promised Land, the land given to Abraham and to his descendants. During their adventures in the wilderness, which lasted forty years, they learned to adapt to new situations and so became flexible and resilient. It helped to sustain them and their descendants for centuries as they experienced many, many changes in their lives.
As we enter into the second of our developmental tasks as the people of God in transition, we, too, will begin a journey of self-discovery. A transitions committee will be appointed. They will gather data and information which will be essential in preparing the documents we need to let potential candidates know how we describe ourselves. You will be asked to participate in answering a special questionnaire which the transitions committee will develop. You may also be asked to participate in focus groups, small gatherings of your fellow parishioners, who will provide additional information about our parish.
We hope that you all will travel with us as we continue on our journey!
Your faithful servant in the Lord,
The Reverend Barry Miller
