Behold, now, what is so good or joyous as brethren that dwell together in unity?

-Psalm 132.1

Brothers and Sisters,

Greetings in the Name of the Lord.

For the past few weeks, you’ve seen the WHAT’s NEXT? announcements in The Happy Priest. What I want to do with this letter is fill you in on that program and encourage you to participate in it.

One of the things that parishes pay priests to do is plan for the future. So, this past spring, when we were all watching the new parking lot take shape, I started to work on the next phase of our building program. I invited several other people to work with me, and, together, we have put together a series of presentations.

In these presentations, we make a number of concrete proposals. Some of these proposals have to do with up-coming construction projects; some of these proposals are concerned with how we should order our life together as a parish community. But each of the presentations, and all of the proposals are based on one core principle: Everything we do as an Orthodox parish should center on The Divine Liturgy.

So, in these presentations, we not only going to be exploring how our temple should support our celebration of The Divine Liturgy, we also going to consider how our storage needs and our music program and our parking capacity and our educational work impact our service before the Most Holy Trinity in the Liturgy.

But these presentations are also designed to get all of us working together on the next phase of our building program. And the key word in that sentence is “together”; because here’s what frequently happens when a parish undertakes a building program: A committee is formed; the committee puts together a plan; the committee then attempts to sell the parish on the plan. Sometimes that sales process is relatively smooth—the community likes what is being proposed, and everyone responds positively. But, many times, the process becomes divisive—some folks like the proposals; some folks don’t; counter proposals are made; factions form, and everything comes down to a close vote.

That’s precisely what we are trying to avoid with these presentations. As I’ve already noted, we’re going to be offering concrete proposals about a number of different things, but we’re doing that as a way to get feedback and generate discussion. And our hope is that, through this series of presentations, the proposals that we make will be improved and refined.

But, in order for that to happen, we need all of you to participate. We will be making these presentations during the Fall Theological Seminar, and you can find the schedule at the conclusion of this letter. We will, of course, have an online option for folks who live at a distance from the parish, but we also will be urging people to do their best to attend in person. After all, this whole series is designed to generate discussion and facilitate responses, and that always works better when we are face to face.

I believe I can say, without any exaggeration, that this is going to be one of the most important things we have ever done as a parish community. So please make it a priority.

I look forward to working together with you this fall as we discover WHAT’s NEXT.