As most of you know by now, Sunday, August 16th will be my last day as your Interim Rector, which means that my tenure here will have been eighteen months to the day. As is always the case with experiences that have been rich and meaningful, it seems like both far longer and far shorter than that to me. From my very first encounter with the St. James’ community, which was a phone conversation with Jane Barger, I have been treated with forthrightness and respect, and as I have gotten to know all of you through shared experience, ministry and worship, that feeling has never changed, only deepened by the way that I have come to know and love the people of St. James’ Church.
It has been my privilege to serve you. It has been an honor to worship God with you in this beautiful place that you have so lovingly dreamed into being, cared for, and continued to build. It has been my joy to be with you in times of need and times of celebration. And it has been my blessing to be cared for by all of you during my time here.
I told you when I arrived that one of my tasks as Interim Rector was to make sure that you felt safe enough to take all the time you needed in your discernment process to choose a Rector who would be a great fit for St. James’ Church. I feel like I must have succeeded in that, because in Kristin Krantz you have called a priest who is not only fit to love and pastor you as you are, but also to help you grow into the community you have said you wish to become, and moreover to dream with you about living out your individual and collective vocations in ways that you haven’t yet though about. Well done!
I also told you when I arrived that one of my jobs was to bring enough change to the St. James’ community in safe enough ways that by the time you called a new Rector you would be able to say and believe that you were a community that knew itself to be able to weather change and grow stronger from it, even if it wasn’t always comfortable. Moving around the chairs in the sanctuary was certainly part of that, and, I suppose, one of the things I’ll most be remembered for. And while moving the chairs is, in a way, a trivial thing – easily done and easily undone – there is nonetheless something deeper than that about experiencing God and one another from a new perspective.
But beyond the chairs, there has been a lot of healthy change since have been here, and for much of it, I was more facilitator and publicist than visionary or realizer.
Thanks to Chris Richard, St. James’ has one of the best web sites of any church in the country, as well as e-mail addresses and communications that are easy to use, flexible, and sensible.
Sherrie, the Thrift Shop Board, and a host of staff and volunteers have not only got the Thrift Shop through the economic doldrums brought on by the Main Street restoration project, they have updated the Thrift Shop’s appearance, security, and transaction systems so that revenues are well above what they were before the repaving began.
Pat Castle and Sharon Hansen not only continue to run the St. James’ Nursery School according to the highest imaginable standards, with every kind of state and national accreditation a nursery school can earn, they continue to improve the facilities and curriculum with total focus on the best interests of the students at all times. And with an almost magical imaginative reorganization of schedule they have managed to consolidate the two campuses for next year without any reduction in enrollment, so that the Nursery School will be more efficient and cost-effective as well.
Thanks to so many of you, the building and grounds are in better shape than ever. The kitchen and storage spaces are better organized. We have better systems for acquiring and keeping track of supplies, we have a telephone system that stays functional despite our numerous power outages, and a new copier that folds and staples the Sunday bulletins.
Most importantly, we have new members who have felt welcomed, and members of long duration who have felt valued. Most parishes shrink or stay stagnant during leadership transitions, but St. James’ has, little by little, been growing.
During all of this time, it has been a blessing to me to be with you in these changes, to nudge them forward when I could, and to reassure those of you who have been anxious that change is not only survivable but can bring blessings. I have been blessed to spend time with the amazing Sunday School and Youth Group, to have told stories and sung songs with the Nursery School, to have painted walls and shared food and fellowship at the Thrift Shop, to have taught the Adult Forum and have my heart lifted by the choir, and to have prayed and broken bread with all of you, at table and altar. My heart is full, and I will miss this community greatly.
I notice as I re-read what I have written, that I have unconsciously shifted from talking about “you” to talking about “us.” Rather than going back and editing that, I’m letting it stand, because the truth of the matter is that I don’t want to stop being “us” until I actually take my leave. We have done good work together while I have been here, and that will always be a part of my story as I go on to serve other congregations, and I hope it will always be a part of yours, even as you move on to do many more good things with Kristin and one another and whomever God brings into your lives.
Before I finish, I have to thank the Vestry of St. James’ Church for all that they have done on your behalf and mine, to make this place run not just smoothly, by lovingly, generously, and faithfully. We are blessed to have their gifts, and I know that they know that they are blessed to serve you.
I am hopeful that I may be able to tell you what is next for me before I say a last good bye to all of you on the sixteenth. In the meantime, please pray for me in my search, as I have prayed for you in yours.
Blessings,
Bill+