PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

JANUARY 2023

By Michael Bloom

I am honored and humbled to serve as President of the Board of Trustees in 2023. Thank you for the opportunity to serve and to help make our Congregation healthier, stronger, and happier.

Please join me in thanking Dori Wolfe for serving as our President during 2022, Martin Estill for serving as Past- President, and Marilyn Rambow for serving as a Trustee.

2023 promises to be a momentous year for us.

  • We will assemble a new Long Range Planning Task Force, whose five members will be named at the February board meeting or after the board’s March retreat. [See the Task Force Charter in the members area of our website.]
  • The Long Range Planning Task Force will initiate work on the development of a Long Range Plan to enhance the financial and spiritual sustainability of our congregation. This will include substantial congregational input and collaboration with the board and the new settled minister.
  • We will meet one settled minister candidate in late April and then vote on our new settled minister on April 30, 2023.
  • We will welcome our new settled minister in August and say farewell to our wonderful interim minister Michelle LaGrave.
  • We will continue to emerge from the pandemic, with in-person, virtual, and hybrid events and activities.

During all of these big changes, we will continue to honor the inherent worth and dignity of every person.  We will come together as a congregation of open minds, loving hearts, and helping hands. We continue our shared search for spiritual growth.  We will continue to work to enhance equity and social justice.  We will continue to welcome people of any age, race, sexual orientation, or gender identification.  We will continue our free and responsible search for truth and meaning.

I think almost all of us desire a healthier, stronger, and happier congregation.  But ideas about how to achieve this goal differ.  Some believe that the new minister will make this happen.  See “On Expecting the Messiah” by Reverend John Buehrens.

Some believe that growth is the silver bullet; that we will be healthier, stronger, and happier:

  • When more people attend in-person services;
  • When membership increases;
  • When more new families join each month;
  • When pledges increase;
  • When youth enrolment increases;
  • When the choir is larger; and,
  • When we have a full band or orchestra playing each week.

Some believe quality is the silver bullet; that we will be healthier, stronger, and happier:

  • When we see close friends attending services each week;
  • When current members volunteer more and became more involved in church life;
  • When families with children volunteer more and became more involved in church life;
  • When all members pledge their fair share;
  • When children and youth are more visible and engaged with church activities;
  • When the choir sings a wide variety of music; and,
  • When we hear music played by volunteer member players each week.

I think this may be a “chicken-and-the-egg” question.

But I ask, which sequence seems more plausible to you?

Growth leads to a
Healthier, Stronger, and Happier Congregation
and Financial and Spiritual Sustainability.

or

Quality leads to a
Healthier, Stronger, and Happier Congregation
and Financial and Spiritual Sustainability.

I believe the second pathway is more compelling, but honestly, the path forward will probably be a bit of both.

The Long Range Planning Task Force will help lead us through a planning process to consider these questions and others.

Please think of this planning effort as an opportunity; a chance to create a vision for Emerson for the next twenty years; a chance to help make our Congregation healthier, stronger, and happier.

Please think of a covenant with a new settled minister as an opportunity; a chance to help make our Congregation healthier, stronger, and happier.

I’m incredibly excited about the year ahead and I hope you are also.

Thank you.

Michael Bloom