CONFIRM MY HEART'S DESIRE

Welcome! You'll find here occasional writings, a few rants, and hopefully some insights too, about Christian discipleship, the Episcopal Church, and on faith community's life (at least from my viewpoint) at the Parish of the Epiphany in Winchester, Massachusetts, where I am blessed to serve as the rector. At the Epiphany we understand ourselves to be "a welcoming Episcopal community, united in God, called to seek and serve Christ in all persons, and to transform the world with love and generosity."
Why this title, "confirm my heart's desire"?
The title comes from a line in Charles Wesley's hymn, O Thou Who Camest from Above. You can read the text and listen to a schmaltzy-sounding version of the tune here. The hymn is not widely known, except in England, but with persistence on my part, and with the persuasion of other musicians, priests, and hymn-nerds, it's gaining, slowly, additional admirers.




24 March 2014

Times they are a changing


The Parish of the Epiphany is engaged in a strategic planning exercise. We're using a tried and true book from the Alban Institute, Holy Conversations. We're also using a product from Father Jay Sidebotham called RenewalWorks, which is embedded in Forward Movement's new service-oriented approach to reinvigorating the Episcopal Church. 

 Yesterday a parishioner asked me, "why are we doing this strategic planning? It doesn't seem necessary; things are fine." I'm afraid my eyes told her of my incredulity!

 Then this morning I found through Facebook this post from a young clergy person's blog. I'm not sure he says it all, but he sure says a lot about what I'm thinking these days:
http://ancientfuturefaith.net

Faithfully in Christ,
Thomas


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