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On April Fools' Day 2001 I said goodbye to the congregation of St. Paul's, Point of Rocks, in the Diocese of Maryland, to assume my status as a retired priest of the Diocese of Washington. Janet was already retired from her position as psych nurse at Children's Hospital, Washington, DC. We were both puzzled about what retirement was supposed to look like, but we were both sure that regular parish ministry was not it! We were waiting and praying to find out what the Lord wanted us to do next. We had joined the American Anglican Council a few years earlier, a network of people and organizations dedicated to obeying Jesus' Great Commission to "go into the world and make disciples," along with a commitment to uphold the unity of the Episcopal Church in the face of what appears to be impending schism. We could enthusiastically support their call to mission, and we needed to do something about our own past avoidance of political responsibility in the Church. Because the tension between Christ Church, Accokeek, and the Diocese of Washington had come to be of great concern throughout the Anglican Communion, we decided not only to pray for the situation but also to visit the congregation. We were in Christ Church on Palm Sunday and Pentecost last year, and then when the Diocese took legal action through the Federal courts against the parish, displacing the Rector-elect, the Vestry asked me to do supply until the case was settled. We all thought it would be only a few weeks. The weeks turned into months. The more Janet and I got to know people, and the stories of Accokeek, the more fond we became of this place, and of you. And now that the Vestry and the Diocese have reached an agreement, the Vestry has asked me to serve as Rector, to give the congregation time to recover from its wounds, and to give time eventually for the calling of a younger and more permanent Rector. So what's the agenda for the next few months or years? One thing is clear to me: We can no longer assume that we are living in a Christian culture or that what most people accept as the norms of belief or behavior are necessarily in agreement with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Now, more than ever, we all are responsible to understand Jesus for ourselves and then to make decisions about our personal lives, and our life together, in reference to Him. Can Christ Church settle back into the humdrum routine of a rural parish? I don't think so. This parish is no longer really rural, and life here was never humdrum. And however much we might like to turn the clock back, it is not possible. We must look to the future that God has in mind. He is able to do far more among us than we can imagine or even dare ask. What is God calling you to do and become? What are your gifts and your opportunities? I hope to have the opportunity to have such a conversation with each member of the congregation as time goes on. Let's talk to each other about who Jesus is, and what He can do with us; and then let's support one another by prayer and encouragement, and be accountable to each other in the process. The Vestry and I will work together to clarify and develop our understanding of the mission of the parish, with specific goals, and then we will be accountable to each other, and you, for how we're doing. None of us is a mere spectator, whatever our role in the parish. We are all in this together, sink or swim. We need to talk to one another, struggle with one another, care enough to speak the truth to one another and to forgive one another -- and then, surely, God will bless us, and through us, many other people as well. STA
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