2007 Christmas Letter - The Matthews' Year in Review

Peter - is glad to be done with seminary and grateful to have such a great group of fellow travelers on the Christian way who are part of our new Anglican church in Lexington, Ky. Entering his fourth year as pastor of St. Patrick’s Anglican Church, Peter is enjoying a new phase in ministry that he calls “pastor as spiritual director”. This year St. Pat’s kicked off a renewed emphasis on discipleship and spiritual growth. Nearly every member of St Pat’s developed a spiritual plan based around St. Pat’s four practices of worship, community, formation and mission. There are currently five members of St. Pats that are in process toward ordination for whom Peter serves as a mentor or supervised ministry leader. In addition to his duties with St. Pat’s, Peter has also helped with other Anglican church plants in Corbin, Maysville and Louisville, Ky. He also volunteers at a local library that provides homework help to its largely Latino clientele and has worked alongside other St Pat’s members at a local rescue mission that serves homeless and needy families. About two years ago, Peter’s mom and older brother moved to Lexington. Peter’s mom will be 87 years old in May. Although she now uses a wheelchair to get around, she is still one of the most stylish ladies we know! We are so glad that we get to see them regularly.

TRUDI - For the last two years, Trudi worked for the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services as a senior policy advisor. An appointee of the governor, her main job was to serve as Kentucky’s e-Health coordinator, helping hospitals, doctors and other health care entities move from paper to electronic records and working with a statewide e-Health board. In addition to e-Health, Trudi worked on legislation, wrote speeches and prepared briefing materials on various issues for the Secretary of the Cabinet and other leadership within Kentucky state government. In November, Governor Fletcher lost his bid for reelection, so there was some uncertainty as to what would happen with Trudi’s job. God is gracious and quickly provided a new position. On Jan. 2nd, Trudi will start a new job as Director of Policy and Public Relations with an e-Health non-profit organization in Cincinnati called HealthBridge. This position will allow her to work from home part time and still have full benefits. In her new role, Trudi will work on grant writing, federal and state government relations, and media outreach. In addition to her work and taking care of home and kids, Trudi has been involved with a women’s book club for several years, teaches toddler church, helps out with various church activities and meets regularly with other women who encourage her to be faithful in following Christ.

That's the first part of our XMas letter about Trudi and Peter. Want me to send you the rest of our Xmas letter? Let me know on my comment page and I'll send you the rest with an update on all the kids and our full contact info. Happy New Year!

GOD IS GREAT, GOD IS GOOD

I didn't even have time to get freaked out really. About losing my job, I mean.

I had been praying for a job that would give me more time with the family and still pay well and have benefits, and well something exciting professionally would be nice, too. Well, God gave me everything I wanted and then some!

I have accepted a position working for a Cincinnati-based company that is a national leader in e-Health. The company is called HealthBridge. I will be the Director of Policy and Public Relations. I will be doing grant writing, federal and state relations and media outreach for them. I get to work from home, 30 hours a week with full benefits. How's that for an answer to prayer?

I will wrap up my position with the state in mid-December, go off to KC to visit family for few weeks and then start off the New Year with my new job.

Pretty sweet. Thank you, Jesus!

ELECTION 2007

This year's Kentucky gubernatorial race had a very personal impact for me. I am an appointee of Governor Fletcher, who lost in Tuesday's election. On December 12th, the day after the inauguration, I will likely lose my job.

Now, I knew this going into this position. I serve at the pleasure of Kentucky's Governor and the Secretary of the Cabinet I work for. I could have lost my job at anytime during the last two years. Also, I knew that the polls showed that Governor Fletcher was facing an uphill battle. But nonetheless, there is a great deal of uncertainty in the coming weeks.

As both a student of politics and a Christian, the question is: what is coming now and how do I prepare for it? For the next month, the transition team will be in house trying to learn as much as they can about the programs and people working in my agency. Because of partisanship, there will be many touch choices. I believe that ultimately I work first for God and for the people of Kentucky. At every juncture, I have a responsibility to finish strong, to tie up lose ends and leave my post better than I found it.

There is also the question of my family's financial needs. It is not clear how many people will be swept out of their positions; I might be asked to stay for awhile. However, that is unlikely, and I, like so many others, must think of my family's needs first. It will be a lean Christmas for the kids this year if I do not know what is happening with my job.

I trust God has a plan for my future and is more than capable of caring for my family's financial needs. So, I am praying daily "give us this day our daily bread." Thanks for your prayers too.

At our church this Fall, we are kicking off a drive to have everyone develop a spiritual plan. Here's mine and the letter I wrote to the other folks at St Patrick's Church Lexington about my spiritual plan:

Dear St. Patrick’s family,

Peter asked me if I would be willing to share my spiritual plan with St. Patrick’s as another example of what living the four practices looks like (see below). I, of course, am happy to do so, but I also wanted to take this opportunity to tell you why I developed a spiritual plan. You see, this is the third year I have had a spiritual plan, so this is something I have been doing for some time.

By way of explanation, let me start by saying that I work in the health care arena. One issue that is discussed among people like me is how best to treat acute versus chronic disease. An acute condition is something sudden, like a broken arm or a heart attack. It requires an immediate, quick response. Chronic conditions include diabetes, heart disease or asthma. Chronic diseases require steady, long-term treatment to manage everyday problems but also to prevent long-term catastrophic consequences of the disease. Unfortunately, our health care system is really good at responding to acute episodes or outbreaks and really bad at managing chronic disease over the long term.

I have learned that there are a lot of parallels between how health care deals with diseases and the way Christians and the church as a whole deals with sin and self. Most of my life I have dealt with the acute issues – the occasional money problems, marital squabbles, angry outbursts, broken relationships, depression about my inability to really change – by running to Jesus and asking him to fix the situation, which he usually graciously did. However, it wasn’t until the last few years through God’s grace that I recognized this destructive cycle and I realized that Christ wanted to do much more in me. But I had to completely change the way I approached following him. I was just dealing with the acute episodes, but he wanted to get to the root causes of these problems by dealing with my chronic disease of sin and self.

I began examining more closely what the Bible and Christians throughout all ages have said are important to progress in the faith. Not surprisingly, my search showed me that ancient and modern Christians agree that practices oriented around worship, community, formation and mission are critical to transformation. So, after prayer and searching, I drew up a spiritual plan and began using it as a way to help me work with God on the transformation of my character and life.

I look back on too much of my Christian life as a lot of churchified busyness. I may have looked like the model Christian on the outside but God and I knew the real truth. There was so much activity but so little substance.

I am tired of all that. I may not be where I want to be yet, but I know God is at work in me through these practices I am following daily, weekly and seasonally. I believe I am now more on the path to true discipleship than I have ever been in my life. And it’s not because I have a checklist of to do’s – it’s because I can see God changing me from the inside out.

I consider my spiritual plan to be just baby steps. I wish I could find time to read the Bible two times every day and pray four times a day. But with four kids and a full time job, I am trying to what is "doable" for me.

Maybe my experience and my plan will be helpful to you in some way. After all, I am just a layperson just like you. At the very least, hopefully you can say, “If Trudi can do it, then maybe I can too.”

Blessings and God’s peace be with you, Trudi

***************************************

Trudi’s Rule of Life for 2007

Worship
o Attend weekly worship at St. Patrick’s
o Participate in special services throughout the church year
o Practice daily prayer and worship (see below)

Community
o Serve as a lay leader and helper during church services
o Serve as Toddler Church teacher
o Show hospitality by bringing refreshments for church and inviting people over after church
o Foster community and formation through Order of St Brigid

Formation
oPrayer & Scripture:
 Use Book of Common Prayer or other guide at least 4 times a week for prayer & scripture reading
 Develop habit of saying Luther’s morning and evening prayers when getting up and going to bed
o Spiritual Direction:
 Meet my spiritual director monthly
 Develop at least one Anam Chara friendship
Solitude & Reflection:
 Go on a personal retreat at least once a year

Mission
o Use excellence in my vocation as a public servant to improve the lives of vulnerable and at-risk individuals
o Invite friends and acquaintances to visit St Patrick’s and welcome guests who visit
o Tithe to St Patricks, sponsor Compassion International child, and participate in St Patricks service/giving opportunities

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School's Out for the Summer

As of last Thursday, the boys are out of school. Footloose and fancy free. I have to admit that I am a little jealous of those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer. No responsibilities, just fun all day. They are definitely excited.

Well, not exactly completely without responsibilities. We do still have some structure - mornings we have them do chores and do some summer reading and stuff. But it's nothing too onerous.

One thing that made me proud is that my 3rd grader had nearly all A's on his final report card (a lone B+ is the exception that I take no exception to). He has had a little bit of a tough year this year - not intellectually but organizationally. He has been supremely bored and is not motivated by grades. He rushed through worksheets forgetting to answer questions or turn things in. Needless to say, I have pulled my hair out trying to figure out what to do. Nagging and cajoling only made us both depressed and upset. Simple reminders and motivating comments were ignored. What do you do when he doesn't care that he got a C on his math homework all because he skipped three questions on the back of the page? His response is "well I know how to do it." My response is "no ones going to know it if you don't show them."

Some friends of mine who are school counselors gave me some good advice at a crucial time this year. Having seen parents struggle with underachieving gifted kids, they recommended we just lay off him. Communicate clearly our belief that he can do better, offer support when he needs it, and reward him for high achievement but make it is his responsibility to deliver results. Then let go.

It was really scary but it seems to have worked. Now we all get a break for the summer. And we need it!

My how time flies...

It's been forever since I posted anything on my blog. Shameful really. But I am trying to avoid work right now so this seems like a good way to procrastinate...

Actually, it is really pressing that I let people know that this week is the 10th anniversary of my 29th birthday. I love birthdays no matter how old I get. Of course, being 29 is still very young. I have so much more of life to experience yet, you know. Expressions of well wishes, cards, small gifts, and other tokens of affection are, of course, appreciated. Hey, I may not be much, but I am all I ever think about.

One thing that's fun this year. The weather is going to be nice and I am going to Keeneland on Friday. SWEET! March and April have been killers thus far so I am planning on enjoying myself. Maybe I can post next week about my experiences...Hmmm.