Emerging Spirit @ The United Church of Canada Emerging Spirit @ The United Church of Canada

Near where I live is a steak house that has existed since (I presume) the 1960s. It's one of those grand old places that you hope still has the red carpets and wood finishes and old-style cash registers that remind you of the better days when Anne Murray was riding high in the charts and we still called banks by actual names and not acronyms. The design aesthetic in its architecture featured a faux-stonemasonry on the outside.

Adjacent to this steak house was a chalet-shaped building with similar faux-stonemasonry. For three years I thought it was part of the steak house, perhaps even the original building before the annexed a slightly more modern edifice. And I was always a little worried about the future of the steak house, since it had what looked like a small real estate sign next to the door.

Imagine you want to drive somewhere but you don't know the neighbourhood. You consult the road map...only there's no street names. It just says "street," "road," and "avenue." Landmarks are only slightly better noted as "landmark 1," "landmark 2," and so on. The river is just "river" leading into "lake" on a path from "forest" in "valley." There's a compass rose, but only arrows-no directions.

Now, go to church on Sunday morning and take a look at your church's bulletin and ask yourself: "If I was new, would my experience reading this be just like that nondescript road map?"

In my life I have been involved in many lay leadership roles doing all kinds of different things. Some of these have been mundane (acting as bookkeeper) some of these have required danger pay (chairing Advisory Board) some of these have been practically suicide missions (youth group leading).

And yet, I am here today to tell you there isn't a job more thankless than that of church newsletter editor.