On Getting Gone
May 19, 2010
I’d really rather not.
Yet one thing an intentional interim minister knows from the beginning is that an end will come within two years. It does not matter what remains to be done, nor how nobly I have served, nor how much I have come to love the congregation and the staff. (Quite a lot.) This good thing now comes to an end.
Other than brief remarks at the party on Saturday evening (do come!) and at the Flower Communion service this Sunday, this is probably my last formal communication with you. No words could be adequate to express my appreciation for all your kindness. I depart with a heavy heart, filled with admiration for the courage and resilience of those who gather at First Church. I would love to stay and watch the children grow up, and watch you all grow in spirit and service. I shall have to watch from afar.
After a summer at home in San Francisco and visiting family hither and yon, I’ll move my road show to Eliot Unitarian Chapel in Kirkwood, Missouri. Yes, the very church now served by your senior minister-elect, Daniel O’Connell and his wife, Bonnie Vegiard. They will be much missed there, and I’ll be ministering to grief and anxiety as the congregation undertakes a process of discovering what lies ahead.
Reverend Adam Robinson has arranged some wonderful summer services for you, and will be on duty to guide the pastoral care program of the church until Daniel arrives. When he does, my parting request is that you embrace him fully. He will be your minister, and it is right that I be no more than a faint memory.
With thanks to all, and to each who has gifted me, lauded me, or challenged me, my very best wishes.
David
May 19, 2010 at 5:53 pm
David and Daniel and Bonnie:
It is with true sadness that we see Daniel and Bonnie leave. They have been my (my wife is still a Presbyterian) only Unitarian pastors, other than the fine parish associates, the Reverends Richard Haynes and Sue Videen.
I wanted in addition to expressing our sadness in their going, to give David a welcome to Kirkwood and Eliot. I believe he will find both Kirkwood and Eliot to be good communities to be in. I tried and apparently failed to send an e-amil as I do not use Outlook to David’s email address.
I was pleased to read David’s recent sermon on “boxes,” for I think of myself as a UU Christian, and I believe it would be good for Eliot, perhaps troublesome for some to hear that sermon or something similar, after you have settled in …. perhaps closer to Christmas, and to see what the response might be.
As Bonnie and Daniel know (and were so gracious to understand) I left Eliot earlier this year for three weeks or so, searching for something more UUCF-like, partly because someone in the church whom I admire, when discussing the church neighbors’ fence problem … and I replied, “it didn’t seem very Christianly to sqobble over a fence …and I really didn’t know the issues” but the response was sort of curious …. and that was perhaps somewhat “tongue in cheek”, “don’t use the word Christian around here.” I believe the “Boxes” sermon addresses that need to honor the Christian heritage and tradition of the UU church, nicely.
I have wondered from time to time, if the congregation were surveyed, how the spread would be from athiest, to agnostic, to diesty, to theist, and from Unitarian Christian to Judeo-Christian, to Muslim, to Buddhist, etc. and how in the heck one adequately ministers to all of these various needs.
Well, after a very short time I learned that the simplicity of Eliot, the wonederful homilies, the outstanding music program, the large numbers of adorable children, and the casualness could not be replaced in my heart, so I rejoined, and I am happy for Daniel’s promotion and believe the family will be better served by starting afresh there. It is our loss.
Sindcerely,
Don (and Sandy) Oliver