Dear Friends,
Please forgive the expedience of this note. It seems the best thing to do given the time available to me and the largeness of the task I want to accomplish. I want to thank you for the wonderful retirement party on August 3. Every part, bit, piece of the evening was perfect. Lisa and Kate join me in thanking all who planned this event and all who participated in it. Many know how much I love words and what they can do. Every once in a while, though, words fail. What we want to communicate cannot be expressed in them. I believe that this is one of those rare moments. Thank you just doesn’t seem to be enough.
Chris
Thursday, August 21, 2008
August Letter
Dear Friends,
From time to time I try to provide you with an accounting of money coming into and going out of the Parish Discretionary Account. The period covered by this report is July 1, 2007 through June 30, 2008. This is an unaudited accounting which means that the information you are getting is “pretty darn close” to accurate. My purpose is to give you a good idea of what we do with the money you give us.
The Parish Discretionary Account is to be used to help those in need. This year our Parish made 65 grants from the Discretionary Account. Most of the grants fell into six categories. Twenty-four grants were made to help with rent or to stop evictions. Five grants went to help pay for gasoline or auto repairs. Thirteen grants were to pay medical bills or prescriptions. Five grants were used to purchase food. Seven grants were used for school expenses, and eleven grants paid utility bills. In all, these grants served about 150 individuals.
Income to the Discretionary Account comes from three sources. The majority of this income comes from the first Sunday of the month undesignated offering. A second source is the honoraria (or “stole fees”) which Frs. Berg or Wollard or Dcn. Marlyn sometimes receive for weddings, baptisms and funerals. The other source of income for the Discretionary Account are one time gifts from members or friends of the Parish or from Parish groups (e.g., the Altar Guild has been consistently generous toward the Discretionary Account).
This year there was another source of income which made an enormous difference in the level of help we were able to provide. It came from the Christmas Offering. It is our custom at St. Andrew’s to donate the entire Christmas Offering to the working poor of our community. This year we were all astonished by the generosity of our members and friends. Indeed, we were able to make a significant difference in the lives of a dozen families this year.
The ad hoc committee which makes decisions about these grants made a very wise decision at the end of the granting cycle. It decided to reserve five thousand dollars to support the Parish Discretionary Account in what was clearly going to be a very demanding year. Tragically, the committee was correct in anticipating how difficult this year would be for many.
We began the year on July 1, 2007 with a balance of $2,403.30. Income to the Discretionary Account was $12,651.15. So we had $14,054.45 with which to work. Of this amount we disbursed $10,780.05. As of June 30, 2008 there was a balance of $3,274.40 in the Discretionary Account. [Since July 1 we have disbursed another $509.48 to help with rent and auto repairs for two families. As the Fall draws near we anticipate additional draws on the Account as families begin to prepare for school.]
Those responsible for making decisions about distributing money from the Discretionary Account are the Parish Almoners. This is a small group appointed by the Rector. At this writing
the Almoners are: Renee Wegman, The Rev. Bob Wollard, The Rev. Dcn. Marlyn Stroud and me. With Renee’s relocation to Chicago and my retirement I have appointed Randy Arsenault, a member of the Vestry, and Tracy Moore, the acting Office Manager, to join Fr. Wollard and Dcn. Marlyn in this work. This group is large enough to catch a person in need who might otherwise not be noticed by a single person. Yet the group is small enough to ensure the privacy of those who give and those who receive.
Since last I reported to you about the Discretionary Account, the number of grants has grown. Perhaps more significantly, the size of the grants has also grown. This may be a symptom of the serious financial plight in which many folks find themselves. Costs are rising faster than people are able to adjust to them. St. Andrew’s has joined an informal group of churches and agencies in north central Oakland County which have recognized that we can do more good together than we can apart. Open Door in Union Lake serves as a kind of clearing house for the dozen or so churches and agencies in Waterford, White Lake, Clarkston and Union Lake who cooperate to help those in need. It provides a level of screening which helps us to use limited resources where they will do the most good. St. Andrew’s Almoners give priority to members and friends of the Parish when they decide about grants. Yet we also recognize that the love of God is indiscriminate, and so must be our expression of God’s love. Grants are generally made based on need; there is no religious or denominational “test” to qualify for assistance.
This is the last Companion letter I will write you as your rector. It seems an odd way to end our correspondence, to write you about money and where it comes from and where it goes. Yet this is not a letter simply about money. It is a letter about need and about generosity. Efforts like the parish Discretionary Account depend on our awareness of God’s generosity toward us. We give because we have received. Indeed, it rests on the more mature awareness that God’s generosity is indiscriminate. That is, God does not just give to us alone because we are so wonderful. Rather, God gives to everyone because everyone can be so wonderful. God’s gives with overflowing abundance, grace upon grace.
Those who receive from the Discretionary Account have a variety of responses. There are some who simply take. For a whole host of reasons they do not or are unable to express gratitude. None is expected or required from us. The “just taking” response is quite rare. There are others whose understanding of “church” is confirmed by what we do. They are grateful and reassured that there are communities of people for whom “church” continues to involve “giving” and not simply getting or acquiring wealth and property. Finally there are those who are genuinely confused. It is here that I think we see a glimmer of nothing less than the Kingdom of God. These are individuals who look beyond the immediate relief which your gift offers. They are moved to feel the question, “Why do you do this?” or “Why do you do this for someone you do not even know, someone who does not even believe as you do?” There are wondrous possibilities in these questions. They are questions about who we believe God is and how we believe that God is involved in our lives. They invite the recognition that there is a community which holds a vision of life that can be very different from that of the prevailing culture… a community which knows that God is lavish, and that there is enough for everyone and more than enough. It is a community which struggles against the fear that leads to hording the gifts which God intends for everyone. Grants from the Discretionary Account invite an encounter with these questions. It invites encounter with a community which supports a ministry like the Parish Discretionary Account. As I say, there is a kernel of the Kingdom in this invitation, a potential, a thing not yet fully realized. But in time, for those with inquiring and discerning hearts, kernels can grow into something glorious. In time, with effort....
Chris
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
June Letter
Dear Friends,
They say that the only constant in life is change. All in all, a good thing, I suppose. After all, change can bring a host of wonderful opportunities. I just wish that we could control the pace of change sometimes. It seems that things happen all at once.
Many may have heard that the Wegmans will be relocating to the Chicago area where Joel will be working. Indeed, he has already begun the new job. It will be hard to see them leave St. Andrew’s. Each has been an important part in our parish life. However, we know that they will find a good parish home in Chicago, and we will continue to be united in the communion of saints and in the work of the Church.
Many will remember that Renee’, in addition to being a Seeker Leader and Junior Choir Mom, also does the yeoman’s work as St. Andrew’s Office Manager. As a result of the Wegmans move, this position will be open, and the Vestry will soon begin an active search to find a new Office Manager. I am writing to you to let you know about this vacancy and to solicit referrals and recommendations from you.
The Office Manager is an important person on our parish staff. Not only is he or she the voice and face of our parish to many people, he or she has a host of other responsibilities. The Office Manager orders all of our supplies and assigns building space to various groups (both within the parish and outside the parish). He or she produces and sees to the distribution of newsletters, fliers, the Sunday bulletin and much of the parish correspondence. The Office Manager may also be assigned book-keeping tasks. The ability to keep confidences is crucial in this position. A fuller job description is being developed and will be available soon.
Of course, each person makes any job his or her own over the course of time, and this would be expected here, too. Right now this is a near full-time position (about thirty hours per week) and the wages are competitive. If you would like to speak to someone about this position, please contact Jack Chaney (the Personnel Committee chair) or Fr. Berg.
With the Rector’s retirement and Renee’s move to Chicago, it seems that forty percent of our paid staff will be moving on. Were this to happen at a great big corporation, one would seriously question how it could continue. Put this way, the changes coming up seem unsettling. If you are tempted to think this way, you need to stop right here. When things are unsettling, it is time to look at them with a steady eye. First of all, we only have five paid staff, and this does not include Dcn. Marlyn who is non-stipendiary. It is not as if we are dealing with some huge corporation. Forty percent seems a lot; two doesn’t. Second, Fr. Bob, and Mike Johnson, and Dcn. Marlyn will continue to provide all of the fine service we have come to anticipate from them. Then, of course, we have a very fine Vestry. As the times of departure draw closer, the Vestry planning is becoming more substantial and specific. And then there is the Transition Committee which is seeing to a host of details to ensure a good and healthy transition. Most importantly you have one another, fellow pilgrims on our earthly Journey. We all have God.
Twenty-one years ago when St. Andrew’s and I were considering one another, I asked a clergy friend about this parish. His name was The Rev. Canon Ralph Parks. Ralph was a former archdeacon of the Diocese, and had been around for a long time. Ralph said, “It’s a salt of the earth kind of place, St. Andrew’s, Waterford. Good, practical people. They know what’s important and they know what’s not.” Very little has occurred over the last twenty-one years to make me think Ralph’s assessment was wrong. Much has occurred which has confirmed to me that he was absolutely correct.
During times of change, a level-headed, practical point of view would require that one use his imagination. It is a God-give faculty we too often ignore. Sartre, the French philosopher, said that imagination is the ability to think about what is not present. So, think about what might be coming, how colorful and exciting and fulfilling it might be, how nearer to God you may be drawn, how rich your common life might become. Imagine. It’s a most satisfying discipline for those who know what’s important and what’s not, and who will not be distracted by the petty and trivial. We are coming to a hope-filled time.
Chris
They say that the only constant in life is change. All in all, a good thing, I suppose. After all, change can bring a host of wonderful opportunities. I just wish that we could control the pace of change sometimes. It seems that things happen all at once.
Many may have heard that the Wegmans will be relocating to the Chicago area where Joel will be working. Indeed, he has already begun the new job. It will be hard to see them leave St. Andrew’s. Each has been an important part in our parish life. However, we know that they will find a good parish home in Chicago, and we will continue to be united in the communion of saints and in the work of the Church.
Many will remember that Renee’, in addition to being a Seeker Leader and Junior Choir Mom, also does the yeoman’s work as St. Andrew’s Office Manager. As a result of the Wegmans move, this position will be open, and the Vestry will soon begin an active search to find a new Office Manager. I am writing to you to let you know about this vacancy and to solicit referrals and recommendations from you.
The Office Manager is an important person on our parish staff. Not only is he or she the voice and face of our parish to many people, he or she has a host of other responsibilities. The Office Manager orders all of our supplies and assigns building space to various groups (both within the parish and outside the parish). He or she produces and sees to the distribution of newsletters, fliers, the Sunday bulletin and much of the parish correspondence. The Office Manager may also be assigned book-keeping tasks. The ability to keep confidences is crucial in this position. A fuller job description is being developed and will be available soon.
Of course, each person makes any job his or her own over the course of time, and this would be expected here, too. Right now this is a near full-time position (about thirty hours per week) and the wages are competitive. If you would like to speak to someone about this position, please contact Jack Chaney (the Personnel Committee chair) or Fr. Berg.
With the Rector’s retirement and Renee’s move to Chicago, it seems that forty percent of our paid staff will be moving on. Were this to happen at a great big corporation, one would seriously question how it could continue. Put this way, the changes coming up seem unsettling. If you are tempted to think this way, you need to stop right here. When things are unsettling, it is time to look at them with a steady eye. First of all, we only have five paid staff, and this does not include Dcn. Marlyn who is non-stipendiary. It is not as if we are dealing with some huge corporation. Forty percent seems a lot; two doesn’t. Second, Fr. Bob, and Mike Johnson, and Dcn. Marlyn will continue to provide all of the fine service we have come to anticipate from them. Then, of course, we have a very fine Vestry. As the times of departure draw closer, the Vestry planning is becoming more substantial and specific. And then there is the Transition Committee which is seeing to a host of details to ensure a good and healthy transition. Most importantly you have one another, fellow pilgrims on our earthly Journey. We all have God.
Twenty-one years ago when St. Andrew’s and I were considering one another, I asked a clergy friend about this parish. His name was The Rev. Canon Ralph Parks. Ralph was a former archdeacon of the Diocese, and had been around for a long time. Ralph said, “It’s a salt of the earth kind of place, St. Andrew’s, Waterford. Good, practical people. They know what’s important and they know what’s not.” Very little has occurred over the last twenty-one years to make me think Ralph’s assessment was wrong. Much has occurred which has confirmed to me that he was absolutely correct.
During times of change, a level-headed, practical point of view would require that one use his imagination. It is a God-give faculty we too often ignore. Sartre, the French philosopher, said that imagination is the ability to think about what is not present. So, think about what might be coming, how colorful and exciting and fulfilling it might be, how nearer to God you may be drawn, how rich your common life might become. Imagine. It’s a most satisfying discipline for those who know what’s important and what’s not, and who will not be distracted by the petty and trivial. We are coming to a hope-filled time.
Chris
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
May Letter
Dear Friends,
As retirement nears I am sometimes asked good-naturedly if I am counting down the days. I can say, in all honesty, that I am not. There just isn’t enough time. Of course, I have a general idea about how much time I have left as your rector, but I think about the remaining time not in terms of months, weeks or days, but in terms of tasks I must accomplish. Measuring time in this way is prompted by the way the Vestry and I have been figuring out what is going to happen “in the meantime.” There will be a time after I retire and before an interim priest comes when St. Andrew’s will be served by Sunday supply priests. This period of time will extend from the latter portion of August through most of November. During this period, in addition to Fr. Bob and Deacon Marlyn, there will be a priest here on Sunday to celebrate mass and to do other chores as the Vestry may request. If all goes according to plan, then comes an interim priest who will be with you each Sunday, and whose specific job it will be to help St. Andrew’s prepare for a new rector. So, we’ve got this “in between time” when all the threads have to be picked up. Folks will need to be looked after and administrative tasks will need to be done and… well, there is just a lot to do.
If the truth be told, the “meantime” can be a very creative time. I suspect that many of the duties that folks will pick up for the “meantime” will really extend beyond it, and really ought to extend beyond it. New things can grow and flourish if we let them.
So, I am making lists, and the Vestry and I together are devising strategies. A Transition Committee has begun its work, (Do not confuse the Transition Committee with a Search Committee. The Search Committee comes later). I have begun to hear that “hum” of creative activity which is so reassuring and so gladdens the heart.
But there is one thing, one task, which I cannot put on the list, one task that cannot be easily assigned to a committee or individual. To be sure, the Vestry needs to be particularly sensitive to this, but each has a responsibility for it. For it is so basic that, in the most practical ways, I don’t think we can claim to be a church without it.
I am not talking about what we do as much as I am talking about how it is we do it. I am not talking about outcomes as much as I am talking about process. In our parish everybody has a say in what we will do. If one is sincere and thoughtful – respectful of one another and open to the will of God -- then whatever we do will be just fine. What the rector strives to do – or what this rector has striven to do – is to influence how we do what we do. I am talking about how decisions are made, who gets included in making them, how decisions are executed and who is invited to participate in carrying out these decisions. I am talking about who participates in the discussion at every level and who gets included or excluded. I have felt that it has been one of my responsibilities to ensure the fairness of the process not its out comes. I have not always been as successful in this as I have wished to be. But I have always tried. So, who is going to do this when I am gone? This is the only real fear I have for our Parish.
How we decide to do what we do – I am asserting that this is a crucial factor in maintaining our identity as a Church. The how is as important as the what. I think of St. Paul and his characterization of the Church as a Body – all the parts organically related, all of equal value and each part affecting the others. The whole Body gets sick when any one of its parts is neglected or undervalued. I think of Christ’s insistence that those who lead, those who make decisions, must be driven by the model of service. For the one who would exercise power must be willing to be the servant of all.
St. Andrew’s Parish is not to be like any other institution. We risk too much if we make efficiency and the exercise of power a high value. With us the demands of efficiency are secondary to the requirements to listen, to include, to serve. So what if our common life is not efficient? I do not recall the word “efficiency” appearing in Holy Scripture, nor do I recall our Lord identifying it as a virtue. Matthew 5 does not say that when Jesus saw the multitude on the mount, he sat down and taught, saying: “blessed are the efficient for they will get the job done fast with no muss or fuss.” The fact is, muss and fuss can be wonderfully creative….provided that intentions are constructive, agendas are above-board, the good of the whole body has priority and God is glorified.
We glorify God – we demonstrate that God matters – when we ensure that the process is fair, when it is respectful and well-motivated. People want to be part of a community which in its common life glorifies God. It is what we are called to do first. It is who we are called to be.
Chris
As retirement nears I am sometimes asked good-naturedly if I am counting down the days. I can say, in all honesty, that I am not. There just isn’t enough time. Of course, I have a general idea about how much time I have left as your rector, but I think about the remaining time not in terms of months, weeks or days, but in terms of tasks I must accomplish. Measuring time in this way is prompted by the way the Vestry and I have been figuring out what is going to happen “in the meantime.” There will be a time after I retire and before an interim priest comes when St. Andrew’s will be served by Sunday supply priests. This period of time will extend from the latter portion of August through most of November. During this period, in addition to Fr. Bob and Deacon Marlyn, there will be a priest here on Sunday to celebrate mass and to do other chores as the Vestry may request. If all goes according to plan, then comes an interim priest who will be with you each Sunday, and whose specific job it will be to help St. Andrew’s prepare for a new rector. So, we’ve got this “in between time” when all the threads have to be picked up. Folks will need to be looked after and administrative tasks will need to be done and… well, there is just a lot to do.
If the truth be told, the “meantime” can be a very creative time. I suspect that many of the duties that folks will pick up for the “meantime” will really extend beyond it, and really ought to extend beyond it. New things can grow and flourish if we let them.
So, I am making lists, and the Vestry and I together are devising strategies. A Transition Committee has begun its work, (Do not confuse the Transition Committee with a Search Committee. The Search Committee comes later). I have begun to hear that “hum” of creative activity which is so reassuring and so gladdens the heart.
But there is one thing, one task, which I cannot put on the list, one task that cannot be easily assigned to a committee or individual. To be sure, the Vestry needs to be particularly sensitive to this, but each has a responsibility for it. For it is so basic that, in the most practical ways, I don’t think we can claim to be a church without it.
I am not talking about what we do as much as I am talking about how it is we do it. I am not talking about outcomes as much as I am talking about process. In our parish everybody has a say in what we will do. If one is sincere and thoughtful – respectful of one another and open to the will of God -- then whatever we do will be just fine. What the rector strives to do – or what this rector has striven to do – is to influence how we do what we do. I am talking about how decisions are made, who gets included in making them, how decisions are executed and who is invited to participate in carrying out these decisions. I am talking about who participates in the discussion at every level and who gets included or excluded. I have felt that it has been one of my responsibilities to ensure the fairness of the process not its out comes. I have not always been as successful in this as I have wished to be. But I have always tried. So, who is going to do this when I am gone? This is the only real fear I have for our Parish.
How we decide to do what we do – I am asserting that this is a crucial factor in maintaining our identity as a Church. The how is as important as the what. I think of St. Paul and his characterization of the Church as a Body – all the parts organically related, all of equal value and each part affecting the others. The whole Body gets sick when any one of its parts is neglected or undervalued. I think of Christ’s insistence that those who lead, those who make decisions, must be driven by the model of service. For the one who would exercise power must be willing to be the servant of all.
St. Andrew’s Parish is not to be like any other institution. We risk too much if we make efficiency and the exercise of power a high value. With us the demands of efficiency are secondary to the requirements to listen, to include, to serve. So what if our common life is not efficient? I do not recall the word “efficiency” appearing in Holy Scripture, nor do I recall our Lord identifying it as a virtue. Matthew 5 does not say that when Jesus saw the multitude on the mount, he sat down and taught, saying: “blessed are the efficient for they will get the job done fast with no muss or fuss.” The fact is, muss and fuss can be wonderfully creative….provided that intentions are constructive, agendas are above-board, the good of the whole body has priority and God is glorified.
We glorify God – we demonstrate that God matters – when we ensure that the process is fair, when it is respectful and well-motivated. People want to be part of a community which in its common life glorifies God. It is what we are called to do first. It is who we are called to be.
Chris
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
April Letter
Dear Friends,
One of the extraordinary values of life in community, at least a healthy community, is that we are urged over and over to deal with issues with which we would rather not deal. These are usually issues we probably need to take on, but find them too uncomfortable or seemingly complicated to face. That’s where I am right now. Since I announced my retirement back in November, I have been deferring the inevitable conflict with myself about how exactly I feel about retirement. Better put, the issue is how do I feel about being disconnected from the community which has meant so much to me and my family for so long? The truth is I don’t feel very good about it. It is still the right decision, but there is nothing that says that what is right and good must also be comfortable or easy.
Perhaps it was Holy Week and Easter that brought on the mood that is motivating this writing. I found myself wondering in the midst of it all, “I wonder where I will be next year?” More important, I asked myself, “I wonder with whom I will be observing Holy Week and celebrating Easter next year?” Then came the realization that the events and occasions which have given order to my life will change radically in the next few months. April, May, and June – a Vestry Meeting in each month and then none. I calculate that in the last thirty two years I have probably attended, participated in and from time to time presided over more than four hundred Vestry meetings. Come the June meeting, if the pattern of years past holds true (i.e., the Vestry usually does not meet in July), no more Vestry meetings for me. The list of looming “last times” can be lengthened on and on from the Adult Christmas Party (at least as part of the two person team that hosts it) to Wednesday morning eucharists and the commemoration of all those marvelous saints to parochial reports to seeing the Seekers off on their Kanuga pilgrimage. Of course, there are things about one’s work which he or she is happy to see the end of. But I must confess that for the most part, the majority of the tasks I perform I like. Mostly, I will grieve that prolonged absence from this community which retirement will mean.
So, what does one do when he or she faces loss. The first thing I am resolved to do is to relish the time I have left with you. There are such happy events coming up: another Discovery Weekend, baptisms again in July, and weddings galore, it seems. And Sundays – though diminishing in number for me – each can be a happy time, and always meaning-filled. The second thing I am going to do, is actually something I am NOT going to do. I’m not going to look too much at what we were not able to do together. This is the way of regret, and it is pointless. Besides, the truth is I don’t think we have a lot to regret. Instead, the third thing I intend to do is concentrate on what we have done together. It has been a lot – a lot of very good work. Some may remember the Silverdome work and the Thrift Shop and the parking lot that became a treacherous mire when it rained a lot. It seems so long ago when we expanded the building and massively redecorated, but it really was only about ten years ago. Some may still remember when the Church was not barrier free and the red carpeting in the nave was threadbare and there was no multipurpose room and the sacristy was, well, it was really little more than a glorified hole in the wall – and there was virtually no Church School, no Seekers, no Adult Education program to speak of. There were no Lenten Alms or Christmas Appeal for the working poor, no Memorial Garden and peace pole, no Apigian Scholarships, no Andrew Hartke Memorial Scholarships, no parish Almoners and Parish Discretionary Account, and no St. Andrew’s Endowment. It is a list that could be lengthened and lengthened.
How things have changed in the last decades! None of it is anything for which any individual can take credit. The wonderful thing about St. Andew’s has been not so much what we have done, but how we have done it. By and large, there has been considerable unanimity, enormous cooperation, a lot of plain ol’ elbow grease and an emerging confidence that what we were about was God’s work. We must always remember that it is never God’s work that we should merely survive. Rather we are called to live and give for others, both those within the household of faith and those outside of it. It is the servant model set for us by Jesus.
When I think about the way things were, my most powerful recollections are of the people, saints really, who have graced our common life at St. Andrew’s. They were and are extraordinary. It is pointless to try to name them for they are too numerous and the feelings too deep.
I am aware that these reminiscences probably are of only passing interest and only to an increasingly smaller proportion of our community. For many, the concern now is the future. This actually leads me to the fourth thing I am going to do. I am going to think about, plan for and eagerly anticipate the future. I am not talking just about Lisa and Kate and my future. To be sure there are lots of exciting possibilities here. More to the point, I am thinking about St. Andrew’s future. If I permit myself rational, clear thinking, I realize that I have every reason to be confident about St. Andrew’s future. Financially, the parish is relatively stable, though, of course, times are very difficult in Michigan right now. If the past teaches us anything, it is that, this will not always be so. We are blessed with an extraordinary corps of lay and clergy leadership. The tradition of St. Andrew’s blessed common sense has been continued into the next generation of leadership. The buildings, grounds and equipment are sound and attractive. All the ingredients are in place for continuing and expanding the work that God has given us to do. Oops. ….continuing and expanding the work that God has given you to do. The fact is, that in just a few short months I won’t be part of this work in quite the same way that I have been in the past. Only in a more general and more distant way will I share this work with you. But it is good and hopeful work and St. Andrew’s community is well positioned for it.
Chris
One of the extraordinary values of life in community, at least a healthy community, is that we are urged over and over to deal with issues with which we would rather not deal. These are usually issues we probably need to take on, but find them too uncomfortable or seemingly complicated to face. That’s where I am right now. Since I announced my retirement back in November, I have been deferring the inevitable conflict with myself about how exactly I feel about retirement. Better put, the issue is how do I feel about being disconnected from the community which has meant so much to me and my family for so long? The truth is I don’t feel very good about it. It is still the right decision, but there is nothing that says that what is right and good must also be comfortable or easy.
Perhaps it was Holy Week and Easter that brought on the mood that is motivating this writing. I found myself wondering in the midst of it all, “I wonder where I will be next year?” More important, I asked myself, “I wonder with whom I will be observing Holy Week and celebrating Easter next year?” Then came the realization that the events and occasions which have given order to my life will change radically in the next few months. April, May, and June – a Vestry Meeting in each month and then none. I calculate that in the last thirty two years I have probably attended, participated in and from time to time presided over more than four hundred Vestry meetings. Come the June meeting, if the pattern of years past holds true (i.e., the Vestry usually does not meet in July), no more Vestry meetings for me. The list of looming “last times” can be lengthened on and on from the Adult Christmas Party (at least as part of the two person team that hosts it) to Wednesday morning eucharists and the commemoration of all those marvelous saints to parochial reports to seeing the Seekers off on their Kanuga pilgrimage. Of course, there are things about one’s work which he or she is happy to see the end of. But I must confess that for the most part, the majority of the tasks I perform I like. Mostly, I will grieve that prolonged absence from this community which retirement will mean.
So, what does one do when he or she faces loss. The first thing I am resolved to do is to relish the time I have left with you. There are such happy events coming up: another Discovery Weekend, baptisms again in July, and weddings galore, it seems. And Sundays – though diminishing in number for me – each can be a happy time, and always meaning-filled. The second thing I am going to do, is actually something I am NOT going to do. I’m not going to look too much at what we were not able to do together. This is the way of regret, and it is pointless. Besides, the truth is I don’t think we have a lot to regret. Instead, the third thing I intend to do is concentrate on what we have done together. It has been a lot – a lot of very good work. Some may remember the Silverdome work and the Thrift Shop and the parking lot that became a treacherous mire when it rained a lot. It seems so long ago when we expanded the building and massively redecorated, but it really was only about ten years ago. Some may still remember when the Church was not barrier free and the red carpeting in the nave was threadbare and there was no multipurpose room and the sacristy was, well, it was really little more than a glorified hole in the wall – and there was virtually no Church School, no Seekers, no Adult Education program to speak of. There were no Lenten Alms or Christmas Appeal for the working poor, no Memorial Garden and peace pole, no Apigian Scholarships, no Andrew Hartke Memorial Scholarships, no parish Almoners and Parish Discretionary Account, and no St. Andrew’s Endowment. It is a list that could be lengthened and lengthened.
How things have changed in the last decades! None of it is anything for which any individual can take credit. The wonderful thing about St. Andew’s has been not so much what we have done, but how we have done it. By and large, there has been considerable unanimity, enormous cooperation, a lot of plain ol’ elbow grease and an emerging confidence that what we were about was God’s work. We must always remember that it is never God’s work that we should merely survive. Rather we are called to live and give for others, both those within the household of faith and those outside of it. It is the servant model set for us by Jesus.
When I think about the way things were, my most powerful recollections are of the people, saints really, who have graced our common life at St. Andrew’s. They were and are extraordinary. It is pointless to try to name them for they are too numerous and the feelings too deep.
I am aware that these reminiscences probably are of only passing interest and only to an increasingly smaller proportion of our community. For many, the concern now is the future. This actually leads me to the fourth thing I am going to do. I am going to think about, plan for and eagerly anticipate the future. I am not talking just about Lisa and Kate and my future. To be sure there are lots of exciting possibilities here. More to the point, I am thinking about St. Andrew’s future. If I permit myself rational, clear thinking, I realize that I have every reason to be confident about St. Andrew’s future. Financially, the parish is relatively stable, though, of course, times are very difficult in Michigan right now. If the past teaches us anything, it is that, this will not always be so. We are blessed with an extraordinary corps of lay and clergy leadership. The tradition of St. Andrew’s blessed common sense has been continued into the next generation of leadership. The buildings, grounds and equipment are sound and attractive. All the ingredients are in place for continuing and expanding the work that God has given us to do. Oops. ….continuing and expanding the work that God has given you to do. The fact is, that in just a few short months I won’t be part of this work in quite the same way that I have been in the past. Only in a more general and more distant way will I share this work with you. But it is good and hopeful work and St. Andrew’s community is well positioned for it.
Chris
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