Providing Sanctuary
Last weekend, I finished my most favorite volunteer job ever: a one-year term as moderator of the Congregational Church on Sanibel Island. The moderator leads the church council, the governing body of the church. In our church, one prepares for being moderator by first serving a year as vice moderator. So this was really a two-year stint. My first thought, when it came time to prepare my “Year in Review” comments for last Sunday's annual meeting, was to do what I’d done before when I’d led nonprofit organizations: go through the year’s reports, minutes, news releases, calendar, etc., and write a summary. Tillandsia thriving in a safe place on a tree trunk. But the church annual report already had brief and informative reports from each of the committees, the deacons' board, and the church council. I urged church members to take them home, read them, and think about how they’d like to be involved with the church in the years...