Community Meeting

Dear Urban Abbey Members and Friends,

I want to remind you of our Urban Abbey Community meeting on Saturday, March 20, from 10 am - 3 pm. This will be an important meeting in the life of our Community as we'll elect a Leadership Council and work on some of the issues raised at our January meeting. We on the Transition Team will be working on the agenda for the meting in the next few weeks, but welcome your thoughts and ideas as well.

The purpose of this note is to ask each of you in the Abbey to spend some time in quiet reflection about how you are called to serve the Abbey Community and whether you are called to be part of the Leadership Council. As a reminder, there was a consensus in the Community that we should have a 3-person Leadership Council and that each member would serve a 2-year term, with a member rotating off every 8 months to ensure some continuity.

I also ask each of the Listening Groups to spend some time during their March meetings addressing service in Community and the call for leadership. If during this reflection time you feel called to a leadership role, please let one of us on the Transition Team know. If you feel that God is calling you to raise up another Abbey member to a leadership role, please first consult with that person. Then, with that person's blessing, let one of us on the Transition Team know.

I envision our leadership selection process will be similar to that which we've used to call an Abbot/Abbess in the past. It will be steeped in silence, allow for time to discern as a Community, and require consensus by all Abbey members present.

We look forward to seeing all of you on Saturday, March 20. Please RSVP to Laurie Lewis [laaurieannlewis@gmail.com] so we can plan for adequate supplies and refreshment.

Shalom and many blessings,

Your Transition Team -- Angela, Laurie, and George