Father David’s post of May 28, 2021 —

Thank you to all who have reached out to me since last Friday when you received the news that I would be stepping away from the parish at the end of this year. Your support and love mean a great deal to me and to Emily.

What is going to happen for the remainder of the year? That is a good question. I look forward to being with you during these next several months as we remember the last twelve years and find opportunities to say goodbye. The day-to-day operations of the parish will continue, the Vestry will continue to meet, we will continue to worship on Sundays (hopefully in-person soon), you will be invited to join a stewardship campaign for 2022, the 2022 budget will be prepared in the fall, and we will continue to celebrate our 25th anniversary.

In some ways everything will look the same but with an added dimension of my preparing to leave.

I will be communicating with you the over the next month or so about what I hope to achieve in the time I have remaining as your Rector. First and foremost will be regathering safely on Sunday mornings. I do miss seeing you and I look forward when we can be in church on Sunday morning. When we do start in-person worship we will begin slowly with one service each Sunday, but my hope is that an early service will be added soon. I imagine that this will happen during the timeframe of June and July.

As we come out of the pandemic and begin to experience some return to normalcy, this summer I will schedule a half-day retreat to let folks gather and share their experiences of the last year, living with a pandemic. We will be using material that our own Chris Lee helped to write this past year. The details for this half-day retreat are still being worked on and, once we have settled on a date, we will let you know.

This is just one spiritual formation opportunity I plan to offer during my remaining time as rector. In the coming month, I will let you know what more is planned for August through the end of the year.

I hope you have a restful Memorial day weekend.

Peace,
Fr. David+, OA