(no subject)
First Parish called a new minister today. Her name is Marta, and I couldn’t be more pleased.
For the last eight days she has been visiting us. She preached both Sundays, and the days in between were filled with group meetings large and small. I had some interaction with her every day except Thursday, and I have had many many conversations with other members of the congregation -- about Marta, about First Parish, about what we want in First Parish and in our lives. It has been a very intense week.
I am extremely impressed with Marta -- more than I can find words for. She is extraordinarily articulate, an excellent listener, an excellent preacher, and full of laughter. She clearly loves people, both individually and in groups. She is able to explain very clearly and cleanly why she does what she does, and why she doesn’t do what she doesn’t do. She is comfortable with silence, and when she wants to she will take the time to frame her response before speaking -- but she is very direct and very honest and willing to say things that she thinks the person she is speaking to doesn’t want to hear. She describes herself as “intense and playful,” and it is a wonderful combination.
There was a time for people to speak during the congregational meeting, before the vote to call her, and both our music director and our director of religious education stood up to talk about why they want to work with her. I too am looking forward to working with her, enormously. I have already learned a lot from her, and it is clear there is much more I will learn. I can tell already that she will be both my church’s minister and my minister, and she will be both my colleague and someone I can look up to and rely upon and learn from.
This is an extraordinary feeling.
It has been a long hard fourteen months since Carlton left and Butch died. This week a new phase of my life began. Marta doesn’t arrive until the middle of August, and she doesn’t start preaching until September. Many times in recent months I have wondered how I am going to wait that long for replenishment. This week, however, brought replenishment. People are talking with each other more openly and more deeply than they have for years. I have learned things from Marta that will shift how I think, feel, and behave, and I believe other people feel similarly. There will be many changes beginning between now and September. I am very much looking forward to Marta’s arrival, certainly, but I am also curious about what will happen between now and then.
I am very delighted, very grateful, and very relieved.
For the last eight days she has been visiting us. She preached both Sundays, and the days in between were filled with group meetings large and small. I had some interaction with her every day except Thursday, and I have had many many conversations with other members of the congregation -- about Marta, about First Parish, about what we want in First Parish and in our lives. It has been a very intense week.
I am extremely impressed with Marta -- more than I can find words for. She is extraordinarily articulate, an excellent listener, an excellent preacher, and full of laughter. She clearly loves people, both individually and in groups. She is able to explain very clearly and cleanly why she does what she does, and why she doesn’t do what she doesn’t do. She is comfortable with silence, and when she wants to she will take the time to frame her response before speaking -- but she is very direct and very honest and willing to say things that she thinks the person she is speaking to doesn’t want to hear. She describes herself as “intense and playful,” and it is a wonderful combination.
There was a time for people to speak during the congregational meeting, before the vote to call her, and both our music director and our director of religious education stood up to talk about why they want to work with her. I too am looking forward to working with her, enormously. I have already learned a lot from her, and it is clear there is much more I will learn. I can tell already that she will be both my church’s minister and my minister, and she will be both my colleague and someone I can look up to and rely upon and learn from.
This is an extraordinary feeling.
It has been a long hard fourteen months since Carlton left and Butch died. This week a new phase of my life began. Marta doesn’t arrive until the middle of August, and she doesn’t start preaching until September. Many times in recent months I have wondered how I am going to wait that long for replenishment. This week, however, brought replenishment. People are talking with each other more openly and more deeply than they have for years. I have learned things from Marta that will shift how I think, feel, and behave, and I believe other people feel similarly. There will be many changes beginning between now and September. I am very much looking forward to Marta’s arrival, certainly, but I am also curious about what will happen between now and then.
I am very delighted, very grateful, and very relieved.