Grace to you and peace from Carly, called to be prophet, teacher, pastor, and magician amongst the believers, doubters, benchwarmers, players, organized, and disconnected of La Grange and beyond.

Did I really just say that? Magician? Really? Yes indeed. Since it would take a "rabbit trick" to pull together that disparate list of adjectives and the people they represent, a magician is sometimes needed to gather up all the loose ends and stranglers of community life. If there is any "magic" to the role of a church leader in this day and age, it is found in the priorities one sets.

Perhaps you experienced the same priority setting exercise I did in high school. We were asked to describe what our ideal day would look like, our ideal week, month, and year. We were asked to list what we would do, accomplish, and complete in each of those ideal time frames. Then we were asked to list our activities over the following week... hour by hour, day by day. Those two charts - the ideal and the actual - were compared. Our third assignment was to explain the difference between the two: what did I do from the ideal list, and what was left undone and what got in the way of accomplishing it. What I discovered is that my commitments and my actions did not match. Much of what I was doing was not something I really cared much about. What I spent my time doing did not add up to what I had imagined was a priority.

What do you value? What makes your heart sing? How much of your time and energy goes into that? What is getting in the way of your heart singing?

As we kick off a new program year at First Congregational Church, let us explore together what is important to us as a community of faith. Where will the focus of our life together be? What will be our priorities for ministry in our community and beyond? And, what need we avoid to accomplish those priorities?

Carly