Summer provides a well-needed change of gear as we find time and space away from the normal routine. The more leisurely pace enables us to catch our breath and to take a more creative look ahead. For me, July and August offer an opportunity of inviting us all into a leisurely gaze ahead. One fairly straightforward issue on my agenda is to move us to being able to video and pod cast our Sunday sermons. I am hoping we can make progress in this direction.
I mentioned in E-news in early June that St Martin's will be participating in a program called RenewalWorks as part of our fall Annual Renewal. Beginning on September 12th, and running through October and November, this program from Forward Movement, (link) is designed to help us explore how to deepen our spiritual lives and to expand our spiritual capacity as a community. RenewalWorks is headed by Jay Sidebotham, whom some will remember as a dynamic young curate at St Martin's during Dan Burke's time.
When asked what was important in the spiritual life Jesus replied: Love the Lord your God with all your heat, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself. Luke 10:27 is Jesus' echo of the Shema, the ancient Jewish statement found in Deuteronomy 6:4-9. This recipe for living spiritually, coming out of our deep past orients our way into the future. It is a succinct statement of what we are about as Christian persons and as a vital Christian Community.
The provenance of the program RenewalWorks reflects ten years of research into the key characteristics of vital congregations. This research emerges from work with more than 1,800 churches, including 100 Episcopal congregations, and around 500,000 congregants around four key questions:
1. Where are you on your spiritual journey?
2. Where are we as a congregation?
3. Where do you feel called to go?
4. How will you get from there to here?
Over the coming weeks I will outline different aspects of the program and how it will work.
Remember during July and August that we are offering an opportunity for worship at 5.30pm each Sunday. This style of worship combines important commentaries on why we do, what we do, allowing us to get beneath the words to experience the actions that underpin worship with a more informal style of worship, attractive to those with young families and folk right across the age and interest spectrum. 5.30pm also allows us to enjoy our lazy summer Sunday and still fulfill an important priority. Try it out for size! As we used to say in the beat generation: be there, or be square!
Mark+ | 
