Dear People of St. James’,
This year’s Vestry nominations committee, chaired by Senior Warden Rudy Green, is getting to work. The members of the committee are Rudy Green, Teresa Chang, Alondra Johnson, and Simone Talma Flowers. This committee wants to get you, the people of St. James’, thinking about leadership in a number of ways. Of course, by December, we want to have a culturally diverse and diversely-talented nominations slate with four nominees for Vestry service, four nominees for delegate to Diocesan Council, and an alternate. However, we are also seeking those who might be a good fit for serving the church in other ways.
In a sermon a while back, I told you a story about how a friend helped me to find my voice and identify a gift that I had not seen in myself. Part of the work of being beloved community is doing that for each other for the benefit of the whole. And so, the nominations committee wants you to pray, to notice and name the gifts in each other, and to nudge each other to consider sharing those gifts. Commit to joining us for the hybrid Leadership Symposium on Sunday, September 25, 12-1 pm, and to bringing someone in whom you see gifts for leading St. James’ forward in the next three years. Fill out the form here to let us know what you see in the person you would like to recommend or what you might like to offer of yourself. The Vestry nominations committee will be in touch to listen more with you or the recommended individual and to carry the work of discernment forward.
This is a pivotal time for leadership at St. James’ as we begin to see our way to clearing our debt from our 2007 move to 1941 Webberville and as we figure out how to be a St. James’ that continues to set tables of welcome in a world and an Austin reshaped by pandemic and polarized politics. I believe that the Spirit is at work calling each of us to be witnesses to God’s greater welcome in this emerging world. A way must be made to bring this call more fully into expression in our lives, and among the people of St. James’, there are way-makers, leaders who are gifted in gathering and listening, in breaking down barriers to service, and imagining the path we will walk together.
Rev. Eileen
