Vestry News & Review:
A Reflection on the 2025 Vestry Retreat
A message from Jim Jordan, member of the Vestry
The recent Vestry Retreat included the usual mix of worship, examination of our role as St. Martin’s Vestry, thinking about the coming year, and humor and comradery. But underlying our discussions was a compelling sense that we are living in a tense time of hurt and fear. As God’s hands in Davis, St. Martin’s has a special vocation to be a safe place where all people are welcome and can know God’s love and healing power.
Much of our discussion was in response to two questions asked in the annual parochial report to be submitted to The Episcopal Church: What programs or initiatives best exemplify St. Martin’s today? What programs or initiatives best represent our hope for St. Martin’s and the larger church?
We could think of several initiatives exemplifying St. Martin’s: our worship together with its music and preaching; caring for creation by becoming carbon neutral; our social justice and outreach ministries; offering our campus and other resources to outside groups serving those in need; and our various adult and children’s formation programs.
We turned to our hopes for the church’s future, cognizant of the hurts and fears haunting so many in our community. St. Martin’s has a welcoming tradition documented in our six-year-old Statement of Commitment and Action (see the link from the About Us page of the website here). It is a tradition that has not only welcomed many into God’s love in our presence, it also has helped them with their journey toward Christian discipleship and ministry. The resulting mix of bishops, priests, deacons, and lay leaders has enriched St. Martin’s and the wider Episcopal Church. Each of us on Vestry has been touched by the authenticity of this welcome.
Looking ahead, we hope we at St. Martin’s will continue to sustain this welcome, inviting all to find God’s accepting love, healing, and safety among us. Our hopes include clergy and lay-led opportunities for Christian formation that may help you and all who enter our doors safely to walk journeys of spirituality and faith. As Vestry, we will encourage welcome through the creative use of our physical, intellectual, and spiritual assets.
It will take all of us to welcome and comfort those who are hurt and afraid, whether at St. Martin’s or in the larger community that is touched by St. Martin’s. We can do this with the faith that all are encircled by God’s abundant love.
