Let's Do This!
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welcome ian mcconnell!
We have a New Guy! Fabric has enthusiastically selected and invited Ian McConnell to serve as our Lead Pastor following the retirement of our founder, Greg Meyer. And now he is here!
We’ve been preparing for this day - logistically, emotionally, financially, familially, and most importantly heart-fully - for a LONG time. And now we’ve arrived! On Sunday we got to collectively and joyfully pause to intentionally welcome this new beginning together with Ian McConnell and his family: spouse Rachel, and children Rollie and Sig.
Some big promises were made! Wow. Here they are! (Shared in various voices, led by several leaders from the Board and Search Team who so capably stewarded this process over the past two years.)
Erin: So Ian, in the presence of all of us vibrant, imperfect, hilarious, “dance-y” and real selves here - including yours - on this day, on this Earth, this ground… and in the presence of abundant Love flowing within and among and between and beyond us… will you commit yourself to this new trust and responsibility, with confidence that it comes from that most sacred and deeply woven place? Response: I will!
Willie: Ian, will you wrestle with the deepest questions, realities, hurts, and hopes -- your own and ours? Will you lead and foster ongoing community around conversations we can all practice in order to show up with and for our neighbors with ever-deepening wisdom, honesty, capacity, courage, healing, and conviction? Response: I will!
Jessy: Ian, will you stay open, humble, and diligent in your study and use of the Bible, other sources of wisdom, including the wisdom of the world itself? Response: I will!
Kaarin: Ian, trusting in the strength and resilience of Life Woven Deeply, will you love, serve, nourish, and entrust the people of this community to a power and vision bigger than you, or we alone can imagine or handle? Will you let it begin with you, as best you can, leading by your own example? Response: I will!
We invited Craig Pederson to join us, representing the larger body we have grown out of and are a part of. The ELCA Lutheran church has given us a long leash over the years to experiment with new ways of being church. And we are thankful to have that continued support. Craig helped us mark this important moment.
Craig: People of Fabric gathered here at Field and online, you have a role in this too! And today, you’re representing not only yourself and this community as it currently exists, but also those who have not yet become a part of Fabric. And so, on behalf of all that Fabric is and will become, will you receive, regard, honor, and help Ian? Will you continue to celebrate unity through diversity, think big, choose connection, share warmth, brave uncertainty, and whimsify wherever possible together? If so, I invite you to declare, “We will!” Response: We will!
I’d like to invite all of you gathered here today to lay a hand on Ian, or on the shoulder of somebody near you as together, we take a few moments to offer blessing and affirmation as we ritually mark the beginning of Ian’s ministry alongside you.
Blessings for Ian - in various voices
“someone had listened carefully to what i shared on my first sunday and asked if i Was ok with this physical show of trust and support given some of the religious wierdness i’d experienced. what a supportive question! and, yes…” - ian mcconnell
That you are guided, along with us, in the continued letting go of what has been and into our new roles and futures being Fabric together, we say Everybody: May it be so!
That nothing, not even the most mundane or difficult moments, will be wasted in weaving you and us more deeply into the Fabric of the Universe, we say Everybody: May it be so!
That you will be surprised, delighted, content, inspired, and comforted as you think big and find new grooves, together with us. We say Everybody: May it be so!
That together we may continue to brave uncertainty, we say Everybody: May it be so!
That you keep yourself healthy and part of ever-widening circles of care. That you find ways to choose connection, again and again. That you listen deeply and practice healthy boundaries. That you will keep asking, “What is my role?” we say Everybody: May it be so!
That you grow your circle of influence and find peace with what you can’t change; and be given the wisdom to know the difference, we say Everybody: May it be so!
That you keep discovering new facets of yourself, others, and God as you look deeply through each of those 3 strands, we say Everybody: May it be so!
