New Years Resolution from Outgoing Board Chair

Well, 2009 has left us and now we are embarking on a new path in 2010.  Every year I think about what New Year’s resolutions I should make and how I can motivate myself to follow through on these.   Well perhaps this year as a church family each of us should consider what New Year’s resolutions will help us grow and transform as a family of faith.

Perhaps I should resolve to follow through on the challenge given to us by Bob to invite a complete stranger to church with us.  Perhaps I should resolve to join-in on our mission outreach opportunities with volunteer time at Feed My Starving Children,  Groveland Food Shelf,  Immigrant Relief Assistance, or Community Emergency Services.  Maybe I should become involved in the new worship and spiritual exploration experience that Bob and Dennis will be bringing to our church in a few months.   Maybe I should resolve to ……… pray, …….. pray every day …….. pray for God’s New Year Resolutions.

I often find myself more than willing to decide what should be resolved, but more often than not, I also find that when I’m faced with actually following through I have all sorts of excuses why I ……   Perhaps the reason I’m so easily defeated is that the resolutions only have an “ I” component and not the we component of God working through and with me.

For the last 6 years while I have served as board vice-chair and chair I have been trying to discern what is in the best interest of our community.  I’ve not done this alone but with the many members of our body who served with me on committees; with those of you who talked with us about our future; and with all who prayed for our deliberations and discernment daily.

As we transition to new leadership we need to pray, more fervently, and listen for God’s resolutions; for how we are to be community in the future and what that community will look like.  We need to trust in the change of the future and in the surprises that we encounter.  As Bob so often says, “God, the practical joker that she is”, has a way of presenting the most wonderful coincidences and opportunities if we are listening.

May this New Year be our best listening year yet!

In peace and love, Pat Dunlop