Early in August as Bonnie Truesdell and I were just beginning to work together, I happened to flip the month on the Church Publishing calendar that hangs in the Library. Each month has a church-related cartoon, and there it was. The cartoon for August shows a picture of Moses asking God how he can manage all the requests and complaints of the people. And God answers, “Hire a parish Administrator!”
Bonnie and I had a good chuckle over the calendar’s perfect timing for St. Martin’s. As we joked about the cartoon, I reassured her that she would find the requests much more frequent than the complaints, and her response was, “that’s alright then.”
The cartoon takes it cue from Exodus 18 and Numbers 11 where Moses receives advice about delegating some of his work load to some of the elders of Israel. First, in Exodus, his father in law Jethro asks Moses why he “sits alone” with all the people standing around him seeking his help. (18:14) In the Numbers account (11:14) Moses tells God directly, “ I am not able to carry all this people alone, for they are too heavy for me.” God’s response is that he will “take some of the spirit” that is on Moses and bestow it on the 70 elders who will help him govern Israel.
And there we have it—the beginning of a long series of God’s endorsements of delegation. Our circumstances at St. Martin’s may seem quite different from the issues faced by Moses, but the solution of delegation remains a good one. Moses tells God that he is so burdened by trying to care for so many people that he would rather die than continue in this hopeless task! (Num 11:10-15). Fortunately I have not felt quite so desperate, but as a parish we were facing the prospect of financial death if we did not change our leadership pattern, so Moses’s model works for us. We turn part of the parish office work over to Bonnie so that I can devote the limited time that I have as your part time priest to pastoral care, liturgy, and so on.
Some of you have asked, “What is Bonnie doing in the office?” The best way to learn that is to drop in and get acquainted and let you tell you herself. The vision for her work that the vestry and I developed is to have someone in the office every day (even though it is only 2.5 morning hours) to answer the phone, receive drop in visitors and package deliveries, check messages, and keep us organized. I think her presence will be a huge plus for St. Martin’s because now you can call the church any morning of the week and make a prayer request, find out when the next committee meeting is or ask how to reach another parishioner. You can also let Bonnie know things that she needs to pass on to me quickly such as sudden illnesses or other emergencies. I know that many of you are reluctant to call me on my cell phone or to leave messages on the answering machine. Now you have a better chance of connecting with a human being the first time you call, and I have more ways of keeping up on your needs and questions even with my reduced hours.
How do those reduced hours feel? After a month it is too soon for me to tell, but your comments and observations are welcome . Even more important are you prayers and your continued commitment of your time and treasure to keep St. Martin’s an active Christian community loving and affirming all who encounter us and seeking and serving Christ in all persons. Amen!
Thanks for the opportunity to serve you,
Winnie+
