I’d like to thank everyone whose efforts made Kickoff Sunday a huge success! From those who brought their tools in for the “Blessing of the Tools” to those who created presentations and brought snacks in for the Committee Fair, we are grateful for your work. Our congregation is blessed with so many creative, talented, hardworking, thoughtful people – and with such diversity in your gifts and skills. On the table for blessing I saw sheet music, a drill, books, cameras, hedge clippers, cooking equipment, and lots of pens and electronica. Thank you for the many kinds of work you do with these tools.
Kickoff is meant to be a joyous celebration of the new program year – a festival of who we are and what we do. As I understand it, in the days of yore (by which I mean the Duke era) the Kickoff celebration involved a major boat ride, kites, food, and what sounds like a nearly all-day affair. We have scaled back from those exalted heights of festivity, but as we create new rituals and focus in on what is most important, I think we did a great job this year. The Blessing of the Tools is a beautiful ritual we will need to repeat. And at the Committee Fair, I think we shared lots of ways to be active and involved. I saw several new-ish people signing up for activities, and it was a great way to find out what other groups were doing in the church.
Kickoff is also a way to mark the changing seasons. Tomorrow we observe the Fall Equinox, the midway point between summer and winter, when days are of equal length. We are all re-gathering after our summer scatterings, and renewing our fellowship with one another. For the children and students of our community it’s a time to get used to their new classes or new schools.
Taking a moment to think back on Kickoff Sundays past, three years ago I was finishing my chaplaincy internship and beginning to work here full-time. Two years ago we had a VW bus photobooth at our Kickoff celebration – remember that? And one year ago I was ordained and installed as your Associate Pastor. I’ve observed the beginning of a new program year with some “recreational moving,” a week’s worth of hassle for the sake of some better paint colors and new furniture in my office. Drop by to visit, and see if you recognize where the bookshelves came from! It’s always some work to take everything off the walls, move all my stuff around, and put it back up again, but it certainly solved the book-overflow problem (and a paint-fading problem too), and hopefully this will be a more permanent setup that can work for the next three years or more.
However you are observing the change of seasons, and whatever tools you are picking up to do your work or learning, may God use and guide us as we go forth into this new year.
Every Blessing,
Talitha