A Message From Our Moderator

By now, I’m hoping that you have taken some time to read about the upcoming changes to our fall calendar and worship cadence. We are preparing ourselves this month to experience something new. To experiment with new ways to build connection, to make room and to see how church might evolve and flourish in this era.

For some of you, the news of these changes is welcome and exciting. You have perhaps been hoping and anticipating that with new leadership, new ideas would quickly surface. Some of you have already spoken with Rev Liz and shared your enthusiasm with her. This energy is uplifting, and the feedback helps us to know that we’re on to something.

I also recognize others may be having a different experience or reaction. “Some of these new ideas will make people cringe.”, was a bit of feedback I received about the proposed cadence for our fall services. My response, “Exactly! Change equals cringe. That’s how I would expect it to feel.” You see in my professional work, I coach people every day on how to be with the cringe. To understand that when there’s discomfort, it’s a sign that you are about to go over a change edge. That something new is wanting to evolve, surface or expand, and that the cringey feeling means there’s space to learn and grow.

What I invite my clients into in those moments is curiosity. What can they learn about themselves in the space of the discomfort? What do they notice about their reactions? Where is the resistance? The opportunity?

Although we knew change was coming and we spent much of the spring and early summer talking about how to prepare for it, change may still be taking you by surprise. We wanted to know what God had in store for us with new leadership, and yet you might be having one of those, Oh, we’re really changing things! moments. You might be thinking, Hold on! Rev Liz just got here and she’s changing things quickly!

If those sound like thoughts you’ve been having, here are a few things to reflect on:

• These changes are directly tied to feedback that you have provided: in church-wide surveys, in conversations with the search committee and our consultant, Tom Dickelman, and in feedback you’ve given to the staff or the elder board. We have been listening. We have heard you ask for more spaces for youth and children to engage; for more connection to diverse small groups; for new ideas and energy in worship; and for our staff to have some respite after a long, hard church season. All the information that has been gathered was shared with Rev Liz during her vetting and onboarding process. The ideas you’re seeing now are the outcome of listening, prayer, and discernment. They are your thoughts in action.

• The staff and elder board are working closely with Rev Liz to ensure that we both capture the energy and ideas that a fresh perspective can bring, while considering the history and heart of the congregation that is currently in the pews and online each Sunday. In weekly staff meetings, monthly board meetings and in many conversations in between, we are working collaboratively to build our identity as a more than enough church. Last Sunday, you were invited into the conversation, too. The Q&A session on August 27 is an opportunity for your questions, concerns and builds on these ideas to be brought forward and integrated.

• We want to grow. We want to be a flourishing, vibrant church that meets the needs of a diverse 2023 world. We will have to evolve in order to do that. We will have to experiment with new ways of connection and building God’s kingdom. As Rev Liz recently said to me, “We can’t grow past what we’ve prayed around.” We need the prayers of this congregation to support this work.

Back to those coaching clients of mine. When they are at that “cringey edge”, I invite them into a space of experimentation and exploration. “Look”, I’ll tell them, “You can just try it on. See what you notice and what you learn. You can keep what works and try something else next.” We can do this same thing at LaSalle Street Church.

We’re inviting you to try something new. To give yourself time to reflect and notice what might be working., and where things take you by surprise. We’ll check in along the way as we finish out this year and learn together as we go.

Grace and peace…with a dash of curiosity,

- Kari