We had our parish meeting of the General Vestry (the church’s annual general meeting) on the Sunday after Easter – or Second Sunday of Easter if you prefer.
Normally this Sunday would be one of rare occasions that I would stay at home, as the choir is given a week off on that Sunday – to recover from all the hard work during Holy Week and Easter Sunday.
But instead of relaxing on the sofa at home, I was at church instead – this time as a member of the congregation – so that I could join the General Vestry meeting afterwards, and ensure that I was re-elected to the Select Vestry for another year.
As it happens there wasn’t much competition for places. We already have a well-functioning group of people, and almost everyone that served last year was re-appointed for another year.
I’m hopeful that this year we will see some movement to have a new rector appointed to the parish. We’ve had a vacancy for the last 16 months, and although we’ve been well looked-after by our team of stand-in priests, it would be great if we could have an incumbent to lead and grow the parish.
I have some ideas of things that we should be doing as a parish – thinking more about growth and attracting new people, and thinking about social justice and our unique position as a city-centre parish to reach out to those in need in Dublin. But we really need a rector with passion and drive to help make some of those things happen.
Anyway, so in the meantime I’m serving for another year.