Fr Robert Hendrickson

Dear Friends in Christ,

Yesterday we held our fall staff retreat. We reviewed lots of history, drawing out a timeline of the last eight years. What struck me, almost immediately, was that Covid was, essentially, the midpoint of that stretch. In so many ways, it still feels like we and much of society are still recovering from its disruptions. Many churches never re-opened and many more have not recovered in terms of finances or attendance.

What we also noticed is that those eight years have been filled with changes large and small. From staff departures to service changes to growth in family ministries to the deaths of so many along the way, we are, in many ways, a different church on this side of Covid. The course of those years has brought the end of some programs and the beginnings of others. They have brought the gifts of many new folks into our life together and the loss of so many gifts, too, as folks have gone on to their reward.

The pace of change in churches is accelerating. As every church figures out what it means to live faithfully in a post-Christendom era we find ourselves with three vocations at once. We are called to shepherd the past, pastor the present, and plan for the future. The challenge is to be a church that is informed by tradition but not trapped by it, responding to the present but knowing that’s not all there is, and planning for the future even as we aren’t quite sure what that will look like.

The great comfort we can find is that amidst the changes and chances of the life of the church, we gather around an immense and unchanging truth: Christ has died, Christ is risen, and Christ will come again. That central claim is the foundation, source, and summit of the Church’s hope. All the changes that we go through are to equip and reequip us for the work of proclaiming this great hope. As Saint Bruno once said, “As the world turns, the cross stands firm.” No matter the disruptions, disorientations, or diversions of this world we are called to remain fixed and focused on sharing the Good News with a world starving for it.

We can’t plan for every change nor prepare for every eventuality. But we can pray. We can worship. We can serve. We can do all that as we can to draw closer to the living Christ and thereby know our foundation is as secure as God’s love and as deep as God’s promises. Resting there, we may yet be ready to do the work of this hour to prepare for the next. We may there stand firm even as the world turns.

Yours in Christ,

—Fr Robert