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A Letter from Pastor Katherine as originally printed in the November, 2009 Weathervane |
Dear Point Church Friends and Family,
I am going to let you in on a little pastor’s secret. Many, if not most pastors, dread church fundraisers such as suppers, fairs, concerts etc. Those events are high stress times for pastors because they are frequently flooded with personality conflicts, low frustration tolerance, obsession about profits and comments about “the way things are always done,” all of which lead to hurt feelings and church family discontent. Many of my colleagues talk about the need to constantly go around smoothing ruffled feathers and hurt feelings or micro managing in hopes of keeping anything from going wrong. Others avoid the events completely. I will confess that I tend to be in the micro managing, feather smoothing category. But recently some very wise folks gave me some good advice. They said, “Pastor Katherine you have to let the leaders take the lead.” So I tried to heed their words as we prepared for our Harvest Supper and I will admit there were many points leading up to the event that I was truly swettin’ it! But I did my best to take their advice and I have to admit that doing so led to one of the most important and exciting moments of my ministry.
I can’t say enough about how proud I was of you all on the day of the Harvest Celebration, as well as the days leading up to it. There was a constant sense of hopefulness and faith that all would be well. People worked together to prepare the meal and were thoughtful about what it meant to be good hosts of the community.
I watched you offer each other grace and support in making decisions. You allowed each other to take risks and try something new. It was wonderful to see a variety of folks, from every generation and from new members to old working side by side, growing in relationship.
The carnival was also a huge success! Heather Wilson and her family created beautiful games. It was so cool to watch children having a blast playing the old fashion games that didn’t even need to be plugged in! The youth group was amazing, pitching in where ever help was needed from beginning to end. Their commitment to our church is a model for all of us.
Any great event starts with a vision. Heather Wilson, Sharon Quinlan and Gay Gillespie came to us with a vision and we all worked together to make that vision a Holy Spirit reality! We owe them great thanks for inspiring us. I just want to thank all of you, those who sold tickets, shopped, prep cooks, chefs, waiters, and most definitely the clean up crew. You all were an inspiration and a source of great pride for me.
It is also important for us to thank our generous community supporters, Albert Lees and the folks at Lees Market, Shirley Robbins at Paradise Hill Farm, Jean Moniz at Arruda’s Dairy, Phillip Deducca owner of Nonni’s Kitchen and Pasta Shop in Tiverton, the folks at Noquochoke Orchards, Selena Howard who donated the bread from Star Fish Bakery, Dartmouth Orchards for the apples and yummy cider and Simmons farm. We are deeply blessed to have such incredible friends in our community. Thank you all so much.
Our event was about fellowship, hospitality and the celebration of an abundant harvest! For me it was an inspiration of what church folks can do when they open themselves up to the Holy Spirit. I feel so grateful to be your pastor.
Live Fully, Love Wastefully,
PK
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