Our message this week comes from our Co-Interim Rectors, The Rev. Stephanie Yancy and Dr. Rev. Cathy Deats. The Vestry would like to wish each and everyone of you and your families a very Merry Christmas!
Dear Friends at Nativity,
I am so pleased that your vestry has called The Rev. Dr. Cathy Deats and me to be your co-interim rectors! I loved my time with you a year ago when Stephanie Allen was on sabbatical. I am looking forward to being with you again. As I told the vestry, as an interim rector my responsibilities will be somewhat expanded from my responsibilities as your supply priest. In addition to leading you spiritually and providing pastoral care, as interim rectors it will be Cathy’s responsibility and mine to work alongside you as together we prepare the way for your next rector to be successful. (Shades of John the Baptist!) I don’t know exactly what preparing the way will look like for you. I do know that it will start with a lot of just listening to each other. Cathy and I will be listening for your hopes, your dreams, your fears, and anything else you want to share. I trust the Holy Spirit to be with us in those conversations, and to lead us in the right way.
Cathy will say more about some specific tasks of interim rectors. The last thing that I want to say is that we will not be a part of the search committee or involved in any way in the search for your next rector. The vestry and the search committee will be the ones to keep you updated on the search as we go forward. Our official start date is January 1, however before she left Stephanie Allen had asked me to be your supply priest for the morning of Advent 4, this coming Sunday. So I’ll see you then!
Blessings always,
Stephanie
Dear saints of Nativity,
I am very excited to be joining you on your next journey, called “interim” to remind us that we are in an in-between time. As The Rev. Stephanie Yancy pointed out, the main goal of the interim period is to prepare you for your future and enable you to discern the best match for you and your future Rector.
The Alban Institute identified five “developmental tasks” that can enable a parish to be ready to accept a new rector and move forward constructively. These are: 1. Coming to terms with [the parish’s] history. 2. Discovering a new identity. 3. Shifts of power [in parish leadership]. 4. Re-thinking denominational linkage. 5. Commitments to new leadership and a new future. As with any model of process, these steps are not linear and often overlap or recycle. The bottom line is that we are entering a time of remembering, visioning, exploring, and re-thinking ministry for the body of Christ in Raleigh known as Church of the Nativity.
Stephanie and I are here to support you, to comfort you, and to challenge you. We are prepared to lead, and you will find us to be both gentle and direct leaders. You can count on our honesty, our skill, and most of all, our care.
O Spirit of G-d, be present in our journeys.
Be present in our days to come.
Be present in our works and in our words and in our hearts.
Be present in the bonds of our community, Lord Christ.
Be ever at work among us and through us.
Amen.
Peace,
Cathy
Thank you both, Stephanie and Cathy. We look forward to your leadership through this interim period as our search for a new Rector begins. We are blessed that having 2 known entities coming into to our parish will keep all of our activities knitted together to serve the betterment of the communities that we serve.