Some years ago at a gathering of parish leaders—those many parishioners who lead committees, teach in the Church School, coordinate mission programs and guide our guilds—we focused on setting priorities. We were still in the midst of defining our parish goals, goals that now serve as a kind of shorthand to describe our intended work as a parish. We talked in small groups gathered around tables and also all together. In one of those larger discussions (we numbered about sixty) I had a chance to engage in a wonderful back and forth with parishioner Barbara Moore. As I recall, I had asked those gathered to think of something their committee or group did that was important to their work. I then asked who would be willing to share that with all of us gathered. A number of parishioners volunteered (we are not an especially shy bunch) and I asked Barbara to share her thoughts on this. She did, though I confess that these years later I don’t recall what she said, though I know that her answer was entirely appropriate to the work of the committee on which she then served. What I do remember is that over the next few minutes I repeatedly asked her “Why is that important?” She explained how what she had described furthered the work of the committee. To which I said, “Why is that important?” She responded with a clear answer about how the work of that committee supported the life of the parish. To which I said, yet again, “Why is that important?” Though that gained me a quizzical look, and not from Barbara only, she responded and for her effort gained another couple of rounds of “Why is that important?” Until we got to the final and vital answer, which was that all that she described was important to our ability to proclaim the Gospel. Although that response about the Gospel was not Barbara’s first response, and would not have been mine if our places had been reversed, she had no trouble getting there as we worked through the layers of her committee’s work.

Since that time we have articulated our mission as a parish, a mission that is all about the proclamation of the Gospel within and beyond our walls, and we have set parish goals that serve and support it. (This mission statement appears below, and it and the goals are posted in nearly every room of the Parish House.) And we ask our programs and committees to consider (and in some cases reconsider) their work in light of our mission, asking that central question: “Why is that important?” For that simple question can free us from the tyranny of doing things simply because we always have, or because everyone else does, rationales (and rationalizations) that tend to crop up when we can’t articulate an answer to “Why is that important?”

That’s a help to us as a parish. Yet I have discovered that question to be a powerful help in my own life as well. Work, family, church, friendships, charities and civic commitments are all a part of our lives, and these commitments may bring us real joy, but they inevitably come with real demands on our time and energy. Asking “Why is that important?’ and considering whether all that we do actually lines up with and nurtures our deepest beliefs and values can go a long way towards clearing our calendars and relieving us of an unrelenting sense of obligation. I assure you I can still waste time as well as anyone (and I may well write an Epistle article on why wasting time, at least some of the time, is important) and I have days in which I seem to spend more time on “busy work” than furthering the Gospel. But with that simple question I have also become much more adept at saying no to opportunities that I know will swiftly become burdens. Better yet, I have rediscovered the pleasure of saying yes to those things that really do matter. The time is not begrudged and the work feels more like pleasure. All by asking a question: “Why is that important?” It turns out the question itself is important. And well worth asking.

—The Rev. Brenda G. Husson, Rector

Earlier monthly messages from the Rector may be found on the front page of the St. James' Epistle.