Beloved in Christ:

The Annual Meeting of Calvary Episcopal Church has come and gone. As you know, we enfolded the business meeting into the midst of our worship of God, and moved everyone out of their comfort zones by worshipping and meeting in Crawford Hall. After the whole event, one parishioner described the worship and meeting as “vibrant.” Vibrant is a word that has become popular in the past years, perhaps even more so after the pall of Covid and its consequences shut down so much of our common life of worship and fellowship. Something that is vibrant is full of life, energy, and enthusiasm. It was a blessing to hear our gathering described that way, especially considering the truthful nature of our meeting, where we all heard about our budget challenges and the work God is giving us to do by responding to these three questions: What is God asking us to do? Who needs us? What does it mean to be a church in the world today? What I know to be true is that Calvary will respond to the call and work of the Holy Spirit with faithful vibrancy – which also implies that we will do so with great joy and love.

We thanked so many people yesterday, and I’m going to do so again! A huge bouquet of thanks to our retiring wardens, Colleen Timimi and Scott Bauer. They led us well in this first year of recovery, as we returned to fellowship gatherings, hired a director of children’s and youth formation, said farewell to beloved Brian Williams and welcomed three wonderful interim directors of music. They worked with a largely brand new vestry and encouraged them to meet overnight at a retreat center last August, where the three questions above emerged. They supported me, counseled me, and listened to me over these past months – an invaluable gift to a rector anytime, but even more so in this year of wonder, experimentation, and Covid-recovery mode.

Thanks to retiring vestry clerk Cassie Kennedy, who hardly missed a meeting despite her busy life outside Calvary. Whether in person or over Zoom, Cassie made sure all that the vestry did this year was faithfully recorded. And a huge thank-you to retiring co-Treasurer Laurie Leaf. Laurie served as co-treasurer for the past three years along with Christie Atwell, who manages our investments. Per Episcopal canons, a treasurer can serve up to three years, then must take a year off before serving again. Laurie has served Calvary with enormous faith, persistence, and integrity through the years of Covid and beyond. Well done, good and faithful servant.

Our new vestry co-Wardens Laura Ehling and Nathan Spillers, Clerk Ahren McCoy, co-Treasurers Darren Cooper and Christie Atwell, and members Jean Fox and Casey Caldwell were duly elected into office yesterday. They join the current vestry members to serve Calvary in the year ahead. I can’t wait to see what God is calling us to do and be together.

Thanks to our tech team: Nathan Spillers, Tim Seelinger, Woodie Cross, David Reiman and Julie Tschumperlin, who ensured that the worship and meeting could be viewed on our YouTube and our Facebook pages. Their work resulted in the event being recorded, and you can watch it on either platform. We know that almost 60 people engaged with the morning’s events on YouTube alone.

And thanks to our staff: Phil Malley, Michelle McKean, Stuart Gage, Jeff Daehn, and Chris Sikkema. I could talk about these people for days, but for now I’ll say again, thank you.

And to you: my thanks and my love. I know it says somewhere in the Bible (actually in the Book of Proverbs) that “pride goeth before the fall.” But I’ll risk it. Calvary is the best church.

With deep gratitude,

Beth+