Consciously or subconsciously, I enter every situation with expectations. I feel joy, happiness, and I am delighted when my expectations are met. I feel sadness, disappointment, and/or betrayal when my expectations are not met. In other words, expectations affect the way I feel about any experience in the past, in the present, and in the future.
If expectations affect my feelings, it is only fair that I share my expectation of Epiphany and its members as we begin to work together to fulfill Epiphany’s purpose; namely, to connect the world to Jesus, one disciple at a time.
I expect to treat each of you as a child of God. I also expect that you will treat me as a child of God. Our worth comes from being God’s child. For Christians this means being claimed by God in baptism and strengthened at Jesus’ table, Holy Communion.
I expect to live out my belief that we are all God’s children through the practice of good manners. Peter Drucker, the authority in business administration and then the authority in administration in non-profit organizations, said; “Good manners are the lubricant of any organization.” I expect to practice good manners in all that I do. I will say “please” and “thank you” when asking for and receiving a response from you. I will be courteous to you in all that we do together.
I expect to listen and to learn from you. I hope that you will listen and learn from me. No two churches have the same personality or operating procedures. I will spend the beginning of our partnership listening and learning the “Epiphany way.” It is in listening to each other that we can grow to understand each other.
Finally, I expect transparency in all our dealings with each other. Every group of people with more than two members is a “political group.” The only issue is how do the politics play out in the group. In the congregation I served for 28 years, we had “sunshine” laws; i.e., no secret meetings and no withholding of information from those who do not agree with you. In addition, all meetings had to be structured so that those on every side of an issue had an equal chance to express their opinion.
So far, I have had only good days at Epiphany. I suspect that is because my expectations have been met or exceeded. I imagine there will be days when I am frustrated and maybe even angry. On those days, I will ask; “So what did you expect?” Sometimes I will be able to dismiss my negative feelings because my expectations were unrealistic. (Unrealistic expectations are my problem.) If my expectations were realistic, then you and I will have to find a way to work together to achieve our common purpose.
So let me ask; What are your expectation of me? Are they realistic?
Pastor Pete
