Most of you have received my letter this week, announcing my plan to retire from ministry at the beginning of June, 2013… one more cycle of worship, holidays, Team and Committee meetings, parish visits, weddings, funerals, baptisms, pastoral care, and so much more.
Ecclesiastes 3:1-15
“For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven.”
Could it really be 23 years since Andrea and I walked into this beautiful sanctuary with little Benjamin in our arms? That day, Sunday, September 24, 1989, you packed the sanctuary and I preached as the search committee’s recommended candidate. You voted (though not unanimously) to call me as your senior minister. We returned to Concord, NH, where I had served 12 years, and told the congregation I was leaving in 60 days. We moved here at Thanksgiving and began Advent together.
Shirley Findlay chaired the pastoral search committee. Some of you remember her. Andrea and I both came to know and love her over the course of our conversations first with her by phone and then with the whole committee in person. Among many things I remember: the hard work of the committee, and the trouble they had with the fact that I’d been through a divorce and that Andrea and I had been married just three years earlier. Maybe they were afraid I wasn’t very good at nurturing relationships…
More clearly still was Shirley Findlay’s admonition that they wanted a new senior minister who was young enough that he would go on to another pulpit in several years rather than put the congregation through another long, slow journey towards retirement as my predecessor had done.
I was 42 years old and certainly had no intention of being here ‘til retirement. Again and again over these years I have prayed with an open heart seeking God’s deeper wisdom whether to stay or seek another call. Each time Spirit said “stay.” And we have. Now spirit says “enough.”
“For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven.”
Why retire in June? Because we can. Andrea will retire, too, after nineteen years as director of Community Service and Civic Engagement, and as Interfaith Chaplain at the University of Southern Maine. We have places to go and things to do. But our home will remain right here in South Portland, in the condo we love and which doesn’t demand too much of us. It’s great watching other people deal with mowing and plowing and painting!
Obviously, it’s nine months before I retire, so why tell you now? Because it’s right for you to know, especially with Elsa’s departure just last Sunday. I could not let you and the Church Council get a false start on planning next steps without this full knowledge, only to undo important work. And I’m not very good at bluffing or changing the topic.
The healthiest way to deal with reality is directly. Many years ago a colleague said told me that I was so concerned about people’s feelings that I “put pillows around the truth.” It wasn’t an accusation, nor was it a compliment. Rather, it told me that when I know the truth will be hard for another to hear, it’s hard for me to say it. So I try to soften the edges and; then I obscure the message.
I’ve learned that honesty between consenting adults is best for everyone.
“For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven.”
When we come to my last day as your senior minister next June I’ll be half-way through my 24th year with you, 42 years since my ordination. I calculated a few years ago that that represents about 4,000 evenings in church meetings. No wonder I have back problems!
I’ll be the second-longest serving minister since our church was established in 1734 – though I’ve long since given up any thought of outlasting the Rev. Ephraim Clark who served from 1755-1797 – nearly 43 years. Even so, some day I’ll be his neighbor right across the street in Mt. Pleasant Cemetery. Benjamin Allen, our first pastor, is there, too. And Andrea and I have purchased grave lots right between them.
More than 23 years together. And it’s been good. Not always easy, not always pleasant, not always fun… for me OR for you. But it’s been good. We’ve learned to love each other, respect each other, and sustain each other with patient prayers. And we have another nine months to keep doing that well.
But enough about endings… at least for the moment. We’ll have plenty of time to tell the stories and shed the tears and feel the mutual sense of loss and express our mutual sense of gratitude to God.
“For everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven.”
I want to say… again… clearly… our church has a wonderful future. We’ll never again be the congregation of 25 years ago, or 280 years ago. But we are the church of today. We’ve been buffeted a bit by the winds of change, but God has been faithful and true. And we’ve labored together side by side to discern what God asks of us, and equips us to be.
We’ve neither been complacent nor sought the easy road. I honestly believe there’s not another church like our in greater Portland, which creates a dilemma for Andrea and me when we can no longer worship right here.
Because I have known when I’ll retire, I had alerted church leaders that we couldn’t just set up an associate minister search committee when Elsa left and act like business as usual. I hope you’ve paid attention to the work of our Church Council with its “Futuring Committee,” charged with the task of figuring out what our staff needs and budget may be in five years and ten. We don’t have firm answers but we know they may be quite different from today’s. Our members have accepted annual budgets with projected deficits for the past few years and we’ve worked hard to break even. It appears we’ll need to work even harder.
Most of that is for the Church Council to ponder now, and then with a new Senior Minister when you call and settle her or him some months down the road.
“For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven.”
What I can share with you today came to pass last Thursday evening when the Church Council met and unanimously approved the recommendation of our pastoral interim committee. From the time we learned of Elsa’s resignation they worked quickly and well, and grace flowed as they interviewed and selected the Rev. Diane Harvey to join us beginning September 1.
Diane will be our Transitional Minister, joining us on a ¾-time basis at the outset. She’ll do many of the things we’re accustomed to our Associate Minister doing: preaching once a month, leading worship, visitation, resourcing various Teams and Committees, and supporting the ministries to children, youth, adults, and confirmation.
Because she has great experience with churches like ours and with interim ministries in particular, she’ll be with us until a new Senior Minister is in place, maybe a bit longer to provide a smooth transition. She will step forward and take on more responsibilities as my retirement approaches. If there’s a space between my departure and my successor’s arrival Diane will be, in effect, the interim Senior Minister.
She and you will form a bond and will help each other deal with the feelings that come at such a time. She’s a warm and caring person and a skillful pastor. I’m confident you’ll be delighted, too, when you get to know the Rev. Diane Harvey who’ll be with us for Homecoming Sunday in just two weeks.
“For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven.”
That feels like enough for today, especially if I’ve just dropped a big surprise on some of you. For now, let’s remember how God’s many blessings have made us a strong and faithful congregation, and offered so many signs of the Spirit in our lives.