January/February 2012 Newsletter
The time has come for my final article to you as your Rector. This seemed so far away when I announced my retirement to you back in February. Now the change in our lives is imminent, and I am not comfortable with last times. I have read articles which describe the ending of a pastoral relationship like a death—-but no one is dying I say to myself. Yes, our relationship will be changed, but it is not ended. My love and care for each of you will continue—and I hope you feel the same.
I would like to thank all of you for the wonderful celebration of my 20th anniversary to ordination to the priesthood.The fellowship was wonderful and I realized that I was celebrating with the people I most wanted to celebrate with, you my church family.To you I owe a debt of gratitude for the opportunity to grow and to serve as your priest.You have supported me for most of my ordained years and have allowed me to be priest in this community.I know that our paths are about to lead us in separate directions, but April 21st was for me truly a celebration of my calling.The food was spectacular and I owe thanks to many of you for that and for all the work making the Fellowship Hall such a lovely setting in which to have this celebration.The gifts were fantastic and will be a treasure for each of us.Hopefully the Gospel Book will be a reminder of our journey together and of the bonds that will continue to tie us and form us in our walk with Christ.Added to that the Processional Cross and the clock made by our own Doc Dewey, are a celebration of the gift of handwork lovingly offered to God and to us all.The DVD of my actual ordination was a wonderful addition to the celebration.Hopefully it gave all of you a greater understanding of ordinationand of the place of a priest in the community.In the coming months we will experience many “last times” and finally a good-bye, but this celebration was filled with only joy for me and I hope for you as well.I thank you for that gift and will treasure the memory of our celebration for years to come.
The other day (two weeks before Easter) I noticed a church sign as I was driving.It said:Alleluia, He Is Risen, Alleluia!My immediate reaction was: “No, he has to die first” .The more I thought about that sign and my reaction the more I found myself contemplating that experience.We all like the good things in this life.We all like to dwell on the happy times, and tend to skirt around the painful memories of times of sorrow, of anxiety, of uncertainty.Yet, those are the very times when we are most likely to grow and to find the deep meaning and values in our life.
As a child I remember that Palm Sunday was the triumphant entry by Jesus into Jerusalem.It was a wonderful Sunday and all upbeat.The darker times of Holy Week would come later in the week.And everyone would be present for those—Maundy Thursday and Good Friday.Whole days of serious prayer, of reflection, of penance.With the 1979 Prayer Book the Palm Sunday liturgy changed.It began with the triumphant entry into Jerusalem.But with the Gospel reading we were thrust into Good Friday.We stood at the foot of the cross with and dead Savior and were left there for the week.That change came about because times were changing and fewer people were attending Holy Week services.Theologically we cannot know the joy of Easter without the sorrow of Good Friday.We cannot know a Risen Savior with experiencing Jesus dead on the cross and laid in the tomb.