Parish Update

Christ Church Anglican has come through a difficult and challenging season. While it may seem like an odd thing to say, I thank God for all of it, especially as I look forward to what God has in store for us in 2020. The details of the challenging times we are coming out of having already been rehearsed many times, I do not wish to belabor them here. Instead, I would like to recognize the deeper and far more meaningful blessings that came to my attention over the past year, along with some of our growing edges as a Parish, all in prayerful anticipation of God’s direction for us in the coming year.

To begin, I must commend the staff at Christ Church Anglican for their faithful service during the last year. To endure what happened with professionalism, competence, and, most importantly, in Christ-likeness is no small thing, so please take a chance to say “thank you” to them, they have been amazing! The same should be said of our Interim Rector, Fr. Chuck Collins, who was steady, stalwart, and pastoral through both the interim season and beyond. He would be the last one to say this, but he is an amazing Priest, and his time at Christ Church was no exception. We thank God for Ellen and for Chuck, who were both faithful servants to us during a hard season!

In addition to staff and clergy, we owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to our retiring Wardens, Shawn Carson and Jack Smelser, and our now-defunct Rector Search Committee. We thank God for their faithful service and leadership through difficulties no one imagined they would need to endure. They are, without question, a part of why we can even look at the next year with anticipation and excitement instead of dread. Additionally, a new fire has been sparked in our Vestry, who have taken it upon themselves to be leaders in our Parish, not simply a group who rubber-stamps the wishes of one particular person or group. I pray that God will continue to use that momentum so that our Vestry might become a core group of leaders who shape the direction of this church for its life in Christ. Continued strong leadership like this from our vestry, staff, and clergy, is essential for what lies ahead for Christ Church Anglican in the next year and beyond.

As we turn our attention there, I pray that we as a church would simply keep trusting God. Last year was out of control. Not “out of control” in the sense that it was just really hard, or felt hectic, but the outcomes of the past year were literally out of our control. Is that not why so many of us responded with strong reactions when it seemed the life of Christ Church was in danger? What a gift it was to have a season to examine ourselves and ask, “when the church I love was threatened, what did I do? Did I trust more deeply in God as a result of it, or in my own strength, power, and wisdom?” Surely none of us are able to answer this question without recognizing our desperate need for God’s grace, that God is quick to be gracious, and worthy of our trust entirely. My prayer is that we will lean into the next year with a radical trust in God’s goodness and power over our Church.

My sense is that the next year will, with God’s grace, be much calmer and steadier than the last, and a few specific areas of growth and thanksgiving for the new year are worth highlighting here. First, we will continue to address the issues with Christ Church Anglican’s culture that were brought to our attention through our mediation process with Bishop Trevor. This is not the place to hash out those issues in great detail, but I will say that, as a Priest in Christ’s Church, it is my firm conviction that behaviors that mark our community as anything other than a community of grace and love can not be tolerated. Secondly, God’s provision of Bishop Mark Zimmerman, along with his gifted wife Cindy, to serve as our Bishop in Residence will be a tremendous blessing to us. Apart from providing steady Pastoral leadership forged over decades in ministry, Bishop Mark will provide a close connection between our church and the broader leadership of our province. I pray that those of us with scars from years of strained relationships with Episcopal authority would find healing through Bp. Mark’s ministry here. God has also provided us with an experienced Pastoral Assistant in Father Jim Howard, who is joining our staff on a part-time basis. God has assembled quite a team to serve his church! Lastly, I would say that a continual focus of our next year will be seeking to live as a blessing to those around us. The foundation of Christ Church Anglican is the regular reception of God’s grace to us in the faithfully preached Word of God, and the faithfully received body and blood of Christ. We do well to remember that we are not given this foundation to protect and build up ourselves. I pray we would continue to be a church that cares for the least and the lost and reflects those concerns in our prayers and our pledges.

Let me finally conclude by simply expressing my gratitude in serving Christ Church as Priest in Charge. This is the church where I received Christ’s self-giving love as a young man, married Madeline, was ordained (now twice!), where my daughter Genevieve was baptized and is now growing in her own life in Christ. I love Christ Church Anglican, but if I did not firmly believe that Christ Church Anglican is a blessing to those in and outside of its walls and that God has more in store for us than we are sometimes comfortable with, I would truly not be here anymore. That is all to say, God has so much in store for us, infinitely more than we can ask or imagine! So it is into your hands, O Gracious Lord, that we commend our life together as Christ Church Anglican.

In Christ,

Matt Rucker
Priest in Charge