St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church

I want to talk a little bit about where we are, and why we're here.

Why is the mainline protestant church in decline?

1) Demographic shifts in work, age and children
a. Women working
b. People working harder; less voluntarism
c. Graying population
d. Fewer children (although thank you Bendas and Russells)

2) Lack of clear role in the culture
a. Mainline Protestantism's recent successes included
i. The United Nations, which prevented and mitigated serious conflicts.
ii. The Marshall plan which ended war in Europe
iii. The sanctuary movement
iv. Anti- Apartheid
v. Corporate social responsibility
vi. The human rights movement
b. As these became secularized, church role became diminished

Further, we are now encountering the global community as direct neighhbors. Our world has become more interrelated and complex than hinted at when the telegraph was invented. We have American-style Tibetan Buddhists who worship in this building. People in Africa read what we're saying here. We have instant access to viewpoints from the Middle East and England.

We do not live in a culture that assumes the Christian story.

We communicate quickly - sometimes without thought to what is communicated. We are found through the internet, our images interpreted through other people's eyes.

Every new member over the last two months has found us because of our webpage. I spent a lot of time, this summer, testing web-design programs. Fortunately, over the last three months, the number of hits on our web page has increased threefold.

We are caught within global forces that affect us Christians in Westchester, a suburb of Babylon.

The biggest hurdle for us personally is: we're busy. Plain and simple. As we were dipping into the endowment, I often wondered, what would we do without Debbie, our secretary? Would any of us have the time to mop the floors, take out the garbage, and prepare the soup kitchen reliably? Could we help the ECW set up and tear down? Would we be willing to stand next to the drain as Carlos did at 2 in the morning whenever it rained, to make sure there was no flood damage? Would we share our time to renovate our apartments into a livable condition? Who will ensure the bills get paid on time? Who will put off the contractors? Who will call the plumbers, or not call them, when there is a leaky valve in the thrift shop? Who will calculate the numbers in their head as the tenant complains for the third time about the inadequacies of her apartment.

These issues happen at anytime, and most of the time they happen on Friday morning and I am sleeping or Friday evening, when I'm on a date. That's OK. I'm called "Father" because it's not just a job.

We are busy, and it is Westchester. Perhaps we will have to reclaim what it means to live into the Sabbath -- the most crucial practice that any one of us can keep -- learning how to rest. In Westchester, that might just be good news. Jesus says, "why worry!" Can you imagine what that might mean for us, when we are piled high in worries?

I want to say that for our financial problems this year, we've planted some very important seeds upon which we can hope for some plentiful fruit in the future.

First, finally, our webpage is now updated on a more regular basis. This took several months of personal frustration. What is true is that a good webpage is a much more worthwhile investment in communicating to a community than sharing with people our woes about our physical plant. This last month we've seen 11 visitors all of which found us via the web page. If we invest in a web page, people will find us.

Second, our music program has provided some consistency to our worship. This cannot be underestimated. If we want to grow every Sunday has to be good. People are moved by good music; good preaching; the presence of warm-hearted people; Christian education. It will only get better -- we've got a great music director who satisfies the most important categories I look for: a love of persons and vocal talent.

If we decide that we want to pay her for building relationships, then we should increase her wage. If we decided to fund her $20,000 a year, she could reach three people a week to build our music program. But that's up to you.

Third, our youth group program has expanded to six students. We are on the horizon of local schools at this point, and my theory that if we have an excellent program, people will find us, seems to be paying off.

So where are we going as a church?

The former church categories: "high church" vs "low church" are meaningless identifiers. Your priest, for example, is a catholic humanist with a reformed heart. "Reformed" in this case means "protestant." This is hard to categorize. Still, we do have an identity now. We're getting more inquiries, and even the last two months we've had 11 new visitors, 10 of whom are returning. We reached the lowest average in attendance this summer ever -- somewhere in the high thirties. But on January 21st, fifty people came to church. More than on third were individuals who have come to church since I've been a priest here.

As long as we insist on sustaining our needs without changing, we will continue dipping into the endowment. That's what we did this year -- we kept things going. If I didn't have Debbie and Cheryl, probably every Monday someone would have a talk with me about mistakes in the bulletin. And if I didn't have Carolyn and Kathryn, I suspect others would have long talks with me about mistakes in the budget. I do love being reminded about mistakes -- who doesn't? But to mitigate the challenges of building a community, we need people who are held accountable.

Lets take a look at the community
1) Affluent -- highly educated.
a. Average salary $150,000 and has post-graduate education.
2) Diverse -- especially an increase in Asian and Latino familes
3) Settled - more married couples

In our area, people prefer
1) Recreation: building community
2) Intellectually challenging
3) Traditional Worship
4) Music that is performed by others

This is where we have to go: the churches that will survive.
They will be radically welcoming.
Not merely friendly, but intentionally welcoming.
They will have celebratory music
They will provide room for friendships to grow
They will have to teach Christian basics
The word of God will be understood as the compassionate word

What I need from you:

1) I need people to be accountable for welcoming and hospitality. To this end, Catherine Alexander has agreed to be the coordinator. She is faithful, reliable and consistent. She will demand your help. She will help us schedule new member education; small welcoming events for people who want to join.

2) Communications committee. When we communicate well, things happen. I can put things on the schedule, but only a coordinated effort ensures success. We have the caliber here of a top level corporation with individuals like Kathryn Wallace and Margit Burmeister and Debbie Gruber.

3) Last I need for you to have fun. The theological word is "joy." But the word "joy" is probably a bit too confusing the way theologians use it. After all, we use the word "joy" to describe even painful epiphanies. But the scriptures talk about thye kingdom of God being like a big wedding feast -- a party. That's joy. We had two events here last year: both musical -- that were fun. They brought people together; showcased talent; and raised a little money. Don't think first of all the work we need to do. Think of all the fun we can have. Getting to know new people is fun; inviting people into our lives -- fun. Getting invited into the lives of others -- fun. Most of the time. When we're having fun, parish growth is easy. Sabbath time is described by the Jewish Theologian Abraham Heschel as God's "Cathedral of Joy."

Let us make such a cathedral.