An article for the Cathedral Times
by Lynn Wilmoth, Director of Children's Ministries
Do you remember the last pro/con list you made? I don’t mean the one you made when you were deciding the family movie night pick but the one you made for that significant life decision. I remember mine. It was just over a year ago. I was contemplating a new job. In fact, I was contemplating this job: to join the Cathedral staff as Director of Children’s Ministries.
For me, joining this church staff wasn’t like joining the staff at any church. You see, the Cathedral of St. Philip is my home church. A church that my family has been a part of since 1951. It was on this date that my paternal grandparents joined what was then known as ‘the church on the hill.’ I was baptized and married here. My husband has served on Chapter and as Junior Warden, and now our three boys are growing up here. To say this church holds a special place in my heart is putting it lightly.
At the beginning of last summer, not long after the very loved Ms. Lisa announced her departure, I found myself in deep discernment: Do I want to combine my church life with my work life? What would Sunday workdays look like? What if I see how the sausage really is made? Will moving onto staff take the church out of church? I spent longer than I’d like to admit on this topic, and yet the pull to dive deeper into this community was strong, and finally I took the jump. Spoiler alert: I haven’t looked back.
This past year has certainly been a year full of church but in all the best ways. You may no longer see me on Sunday mornings sitting with my family on the right side, but I’d argue my vantage point now is even better.
Why? Maybe it’s because my Sundays start with welcoming young families into our Nurturing Center, or maybe it’s the smiles and the hugs that greet me when the children and I walk down the aisle together, or it could be the joyful singing in Children’s Chapel and the thoughtful wondering in Godly Play. It is. It is all those things and more.
Since I said yes to this role, I have watched clergy, staff and parishioners alike say yes with me: Costumes in church? Yes! Host a Pancake Party? Yes! Make all of the pancakes ourselves? Definitely Yes! Join Godly Play Parents? Yes! Attend a solemn Ash Wednesday service in a chapel full of energetic children in the middle of the week? Absolutely! Serve in a renewed Baptism Guild? Yes! Wear PJs in the Nave at 6 p.m. on a hot summer night? Say no more! Stop by Sunday School in the Shade? Yes! …and I could go on.
This first year was more than any pro/con list could have anticipated. Moving onto staff hasn’t taken the church out of church; it has given me a deeper view of how this community acts as church together: praying, playing, walking, working. I am so thankful to walk alongside all of you here at the Cathedral of St. Philip as we serve together in witness to God’s love.
In last Sunday’s Gospel reading, we were prompted to consider how we might be rich toward God (Luke 12:13-21). As I look around this Cathedral, I am certain that together we are rich in both our faithfulness and our community. I am so glad that I said yes, and I cannot wait for the start of this next program year. Will you join me in saying yes to year two?
