I have completed my response to the Vestry Recommendations.

At the Parish Annual Meeting in January 2008, I asked the Vestry to collaborate with the parish to develop a plan that would resolve once and for all the financial instability of the parish.

For newcomers: Ten years ago the parish acquired a debt of $2,391,000. At the time, the parish pledge base was only $286,442. The parish has struggled financially ever sense.

I have listened to parishioner responses to the Vestry Recommendations and did my best to incorporate their perspectives in my response.

And so the dialogue continues. Why do we invest so much time and care in listening to one another?

One of our Five Root Values is Truth.

Truth exists as an absolute only in the mind of God. The rest of us only have a very partial access to the Truth. To value Truth means that we are open to listening to one another. What I see, what I think, what I know, is always incomplete. I can only know the Truth as I remain open to the perspective of others.

I believe this is what Jesus meant when he said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but by me."

As we each follow Jesus, he brings us into relationship with one another. Following Jesus we learn to love one another as he loves us (John 17). Growing in our capacity for spiritual intimacy, we listen very deeply to one another. The Truth is made known to me, not in what I have to say, but in what I hear. Following Jesus, I come to the Father as I listen to you.

The Rule of St. Benedict gives expression to this value of the Truth. It comes to from the 7th century and continues to serve as the basic text for monasteries all around the world. This is from Chapter Three.

Whenever any important business has to be done in the monastery,
let the Abbot call together the whole community
and state the matter to be acted upon.
Then, having heard the brethren's advice,
let him turn the matter over in his own mind
and do what he shall judge to be most expedient.
The reason we have said that all should be called for counsel
is that the Lord often reveals to the younger what is best.

The monasteries of old were "ruled" by an Abbot, meaning "Father." It is the source of the practice of calling the Rector, "Father Kevin." From the perspective of the tradition, I am "the Abbot."

The monastic tradition is fundamentally collaborative (that is, covenental) in nature. Through the dark days of imperial Roman Catholicism, the monasteries kept alive the egalitarian essence of the Gospel.

"We are one in Christ Jesus."

"No part of the body is better than another part."

"In Christ there is neither slave nor free. Neither male nor female."

So, as the Vestry works on behalf the our parishioners to plan a hopeful future for our parish, they do not do so in isolation. They value the Truth. They listen to our parish. In listening to our parishioners, they hear the voice of the Holy Spirit calling us forward together in ministry.

What will the final outcome of this process be? I can't say in terms of financial solutions. But I do know that we will emerge a stronger, more faithful covenant community with a greater capacity for ministry than we have ever had before.

And that is the Truth.