Pentecost 19, Proper 25, Yr A, 10/23/11

My Last Sunday at Faith Episcopal Church

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.

You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

Those are the two things that Jesus said summarizes all that matters in life.

The prefect summary of God’s law.

I wish I had the same perfect summary of what the last 11 years has meant to me as a priest here with you.

But I don’t have anything so neat and tidy.

I have too much to say and no way to say it well in eleven minutes.

Last week I started to cry when little, blond Peter came and stood in front of me with his arms crossed over his chest, looking to me for his blessing.

How many years ago was it that I was in the hospital with him and his mom and dad as the doctors tried to figure out what was going on with him.

Last Sunday he was a perfect symbol of the precious time I’ve had with so many of you in hospital rooms and at bedsides.

When you were sick and weak and not looking your best.

At moments when death was near and when death had come.

The times you have allowed me to be with you, to hold your hand, to pray by your side.

To simply be with you in your moments of physical pain and struggle.

You’ve let me into your moments of sadness and grief.

And that has been a privilege.

I heard Chris tell his story this weekend at the FISH retreat of mourning the loss of his grandfather.

His mom brought him to see me and we talked.

He was about 8 years old.

He was sad and angry beyond belief and couldn’t understand why God would let him hurt so much.

We took the prayer book and we put together his own service to use whenever he wanted to honor his grandfather and to ask God into his grief.

Chris is the prefect symbol of all the times you’ve let me into your confusion and resentment and even anger at God.

Times when you may have wondered where God was, why life felt so hard or so desolate.

You’ve allowed me to be with you in your questioning, your wrestling with God and faith.

That has been an honor.

At the potluck last Sunday Jeff came up to me and twirled his wedding ring on his finger.

He asked if I wanted to go bowling with it, I think was the image he used.

I performed the wedding ceremony for Tina and him a bunch of years back.

And I dropped his wedding ring at that crucial moment and it rolled that way.

We hadn’t rehearsed with the actual ring and Jeff is a big guy and that was one big ring.

I cracked a joke, we chased the ring down, and then we got ‘er done.

You’ve invited me into the greatest joys of your lives.

The blessings of marriages that have endured.

Into your weddings, births, baptisms, confirmations.

New jobs, new relationships, new homes.

You’ve shared them with me and lots of other, little everyday joys.

Discovering new things about your faith, about God.

New feelings and thoughts.

From the youngest to the oldest among you here, you’ve invited me to celebrate all kinds of things with you.

At this year’s Blessing of the Animals I even got to bless Elijah’s plastic Bruce shark figure from Nemo that he keeps in water in a plastic Tupperware container.

And don’t tell him Bruce isn’t real.

How sweet and wonderful that’s been.

Today is a perfect example of all of that.

To be here over the weekend with all of these kids.

To be invited to share in the journey they are having trying to figure out what it means to think about Jesus, maybe even follow Jesus.

What incredible trust you’ve shown me.

Thank you.

So many ways that you all have allowed me to be with you, to be your priest.

You’ve given me a place to be what I feel so deeply that God has called me to be.

You grew me up from a baby priest.

And here is the other side.

These last couple of years have been difficult for me personally.

You’ve been there for me.

You’ve let me shed my tears.

I had to come to church every Sunday even though I knew I was probably going to cry again.

You’ve let me lean on you.

All of your love and prayers.

Your kind words, hugs, notes, calls.

You have been the part of the Body of Christ where I could be safe and loved.

Thank you.

Studies show nowadays that only a very small percentage of people actually like their job.

Some studies say as few as 15%, maybe as much as 40%.

That has been a part of the gift of Faith Church.

Let me say out loud and with conviction how lucky this community is to have people who love their work.

Kim Kreth as our chief of operations, master mind…the brains.

Adriana Findlay as head of children’s ministries…supporter of kids and adults who love helping kids feel welcome and want them to grow as followers of Jesus.

Rhonda Nelson leading us into the presence of God each week with music that moves us and opens us up to God.

These are people who feel a calling from God to do what they do.

And they all do it with a dedication and conviction that is inspiring to be with.

They are God powered people who work for the best of this place.

Steve Shortes…our deacon and willing servant for us here.

Giving of himself as part of the sacramental life of Faith and as a helper in general.

A gift to this place as well.

I cannot leave out my thanks to Kathy McNair as a mentor and friend.

She is an example of someone on fire for Jesus who finds every way possible to be the hands and feet and voice of Jesus wherever she is.

If you stand very close to Kathy you will catch on fire too, so watch out!

Now it gets tricky.

Just at the point in the life of Faith Church when you are putting in place a plan for the pastoral transition.

When you are looking at who you are, who you are wanting to become as a church, and what kind of priest will lead you forward.

In the middle of that, I’m going to tell you how amazing Kent is.

I’ll make it brief.

God has gifted Kent, and Kent has used those gifts to start and grow a community of faith that is so strong and so full of vitality.

This local church is what the world needs to be more hopeful.

Kent is a leader.

But for me he is a friend and a mentor.

Sorry to all of you, but I will miss him most of all.

How will I ever be able to have in passing a conversation pitting his Calvinist reform theology against my semi-pelagian theology?

Nobody cares about that except us.

He has given me all of his best insights and experience.

And the bantering that you see between us comes from the very real affection and respect we have.

He’s been there for me in my most difficult moments.

Our friendship is a gift.

And let me just say that it is my belief that his leadership has been so good that this church will thrive as it moves forward.

This place is not about any one person.

That is the culture that he’s nurtured here.

That is an amazing gift to this place.

It’s not about him, it’s not about me.

Its about all of you.

I have been the best priest and leader and friend I could be these eleven years.

I hope that I’ve followed Jesus closely enough to do some things right.

My job has been to help us see God a little more clearly.

To help us deepen our faith, to grow in hope.

I hope that I’ve helped some of you experience the love and mercy of Jesus.

I hope that I’ve helped some of you feel the need to learn what God is expecting of you.

And to take those responsibilities seriously.

God has been so amazingly and ridiculously good to me here.

I can’t wait to share that at St. Augustine’s.

It truly is a good thing that you have done to get me ready for this.

I think maybe we can summarize what you and I have been up to these last eleven years.

There are those two things that have kept us growing and changing and deepening our faith.

Those two things Jesus said.

The two things that shape us as followers of Jesus whether we are together or apart.

Whether we are at this church or another.

Whether we are led by this priest or that priest.

Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.

Love your neighbor as yourself.

Thank you, Lord, for loving me.

And thank you all for loving me, too.

Amen.