For the month of October, I will be reflecting on St. John’s new Mutual Ministry goals for 2021/2022. They came out of a session of discernment with parish council in the summer. I am excited by them, and I hope they will guide our energy, ministryand prayer in the coming year. How will you join in?

 Goal #4: Joy (Fellowship).

 I love this goal so much.

 I love it because as we focus in on all our goals and plans and tasks, we can quickly become very serious, even anxious. We can forget to hold things a little more lightly, to laugh and have fun.

 So, this goal might end up looking like some really specificthings, like parish events where we can gather together, have some fun, and engage with the wider community. However, I hope that this is one of the goals (like “prayer” from last year) that will touch every single other goal and piece of work we do this year.

 That was my hope for “Rev. on the Roof.” At first, one might think that it would fall under the goal of “sustainability,” and it does. But I also did it to bring some levity and laughter, some community and connection to the sort of project that can feel very heavy.

 A community that is over serious and anxious is not very compelling, for those who are being invited in, but also for those who are already part of it. My friends, let us be a church that makes plans and sets goals, but also remembers that our reason for being is primarily relationship, with God and each other. Let us be a community that knows how to have serious conversations and deal with important, difficult topics, but also laughs together and loves mightily in the name of Jesus.

 Thanks be to God!


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