October Tower Echoes: Note from Parish Administrator
I was on the #5 bus heading to PRLC for my first day of work. I was stuck on the day’s NY Times Spelling Bee so I worked on some old NYT crossword puzzles. “Thank God for a ‘fresh’ set of eyes” I thought as I completed several clues that obviously baffled me at an earlier time. I went back to the day’s Spelling Bee. I pressed that oh-so-important reshuffle button that moves the letters around – offering a fresh perspective even within the same puzzle “session.”
Most of us do not have our own personal reshuffle button to look at a situation anew. That’s where community comes in. When we are in community with each other, our understanding of a situation is more complete. We hear, and listen to, multiple perspectives on the situation – effects the situation has on folks situated differently than where we are. We hear, and listen to, varying consequences of actions taken or not taken. With such diversity of perspective comes creative and more varied opportunities to address the situation. And the likelihood that the community will see the response as just and considerate of the whole situation is increased. After all, more people, and ideally people directly affected by the situation, would be a part of the community's response.
This all sounds great, in theory. In reality, community is messy. I mean messy messy. Uncomfortably messy. It seems that even though we may know this, we have the opportunity to learn this truth over and over again at deeper and deeper levels throughout our lives. And, yet, here we are, in community, at Phinney Ridge Lutheran Church. A church that proudly states, “All are welcome.” Like welcome is easy. But that’s another article, for another day.
I’m thankful to be welcomed into yet another cluster of communities – those at and around PRLC – as PRLC's new Parish Administrator. I’m looking forward to learning -- hearing, listening, reading, seeing, and sensing -- more about folks and life here at Phinney Ridge. And I’m already super appreciative of the stellar staff and community members I’ve met so far! May we be together in community, however messy it may be.
Ann Erickson began as the new Parish Administrator on September 22, 2021. She’s an active member of Immanuel Lutheran in South Lake Union, including being on their faith formation and anti-racism teams. She lives in West Seattle and is President of her condo Home Ownership Association which is currently learning how to be community together on a whole new level, restoring our building after a fire, and the resulting damage, displaced all 6 units.
