Monday, November 09, 2009

Discernment, Yet Again...

I'm once again deep in discernment. I have an opportunity for a retreat in April, which I must apply for by the middle of this month--if I am accepted, I will be informed by mid-December. What a Christmas gift that would be!

Part of the reason, the format, the purpose of the retreat is pastoral renewal. As followers of this blog know, I've been struggling with what I should be doing and where, for a while. My call to ministry is still clear--what's gotten murky is the direction or focus of my ministry now. Do I stay here in River City, encouraging the growth I'm seeing in the church here? Do I go back to grad school for that doctorate I've been toying with for a couple of years now? Do I change directions a bit and look into community work, working in one of the community organizations? I just don't know and my thought/prayer/hope is that the retreat would assist me in the clarification I need. I do know that the thinking I have been doing in order to write the application has helped me to think about all this and what a change might mean, might look like, might imply. Even if I am not selected, this has helped me think about it in new ways. If I am selected--wow, Well, I am not going to think about that because I don't know that I will be...

Growth... yeah. Wow. At our annual congregational meeting recently, we had three spots available on the board and four people ran for them... This was a first for us, and the board had to do some consulting to decide how to handle it! The new members are energetic and committed and I am thrilled to have them. I think we might turn things around here, if this trend continues. WHich may be God's leading to remain...or of gently telling me, "it's time to move on."

Yes. Discernment continues.

Clarence Darrow--Beyond Scopes and Leopold & Loeb

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