Letters from the Rectors

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​Dear friends at Saints James and Andrew,
I am writing to let you know of a transition that is coming up for me and for Saints James and Andrew.  I have accepted a call to serve as the Priest in Charge of St. Mary’s in the Mountains in Wilmington, Vermont beginning on October 1, and my final Sunday with you as Associate Rector will be the last Sunday in September.
I have mixed feelings about this change at the same time that I feel that it is the right one for everyone concerned.  My brief time at former St. Andrews and my tenure as Associate at James and Andrew have been full of joy.  It has been a privilege to work and serve with you during a period of change and growth in ministry, including our crafting a merger and working together in addressing significant challenges including the Covid pandemic.  I think you know, as well, how much I have loved, had total fun, and found great satisfaction working in partnership with Heather.  It is, therefore, hard to leave.
At the same time, the time is right.  Heather and I have been aware for some time that the present size of the parish does not require two clergy, and have attempted to help prepare for a future in which James and Andrew is served by one priest even though we had no specific plan for when or how to transition.  In late May I received an unsolicited invitation to enter a conversation with St. Mary’s about their need for a priest.  It felt to me like the Spirit at work that there was a parish in need of what I might provide just as James and Andrew was ready to go forward with a strong Rector renewed by sabbatical.  As I feel sadness to leave a ministry I have loved, I am also looking forward to discovering a new set of challenges in the community I will be serving.
I won’t be disappearing entirely:  I will continue to live in Greenfield and will continue to facilitate our online Caregivers Support Group for the time being, until a good alternative is identified.  After an appropriate hiatus, I will continue as a member in St. Andrew’s Guild and be available to fill in as supply clergy if invited.  I anticipate eventually retiring as a member of James and Andrew. 
I am grateful to members of James and Andrew for your friendship and your support during my time with you.  You will continue in my prayers, as I hope that I will in yours, as we all move forward in the work of listening for and responding to the Spirit’s call.
Very sincerely,
Molly

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Dear friends at Saints James and Andrew,

God, you have given us so much. 
Now give us one thing more;
glad and thankful hearts. Amen.* 

This is a prayer, a grace really, that one of the brothers at the Society of Saint John the Evangelist began many of our meals with when I joined them for retreat in early May. If I had to summarize my sabbatical so far, I would say this prayer has been the constant. I found myself saying it every few minutes as I walked the Fife Coastal Path with my spouse; as I attended worship services; as I laughed with my kids; and as I drank coffee on the rectory porch reading the latest books in church leadership and scripture study. Thank you, for the gift of this time. 
I have also been offering prayers for Rev. Molly, our parish, and for St. Mary’s in the Mountains. Our Creator God is ready to do a new and beautiful thing! While this particular path was unexpected, the Holy Spirit always knows what we need and what we are ready for long before we do. She nudges us forward, so we might lean on our faith and grow. Like all transitions, this one will be a mixture of joy, grief, learning, and change.  
In Lent 2016, Rev. Molly was called to serve the former St. Andrews. By late that fall, a changing landscape led both former parishes to begin explicit conversation about the possibility of merger, understanding that combining the gifts, strengths, traditions and resources of the two congregations (including human faithfulness, energy, and creativity as well as material and financial assets) had the potential to result in a faith community that was stronger and more dynamic than the sum of the parts. Rev. Molly co-led that process, and following the merger in April 2017 she stayed on as our Associate Rector. The idea was this arrangement might last for a year or two to help the new faith community build a strong foundation with the help of two clergy.  Instead, something far better happened - a true partnership. 
Rev. Molly has served as our ministry partner for over 6 years.  She has brought experience; profound wisdom; excellent preaching and knowledge of the scriptures; a creative approach to liturgy; a wonderful sense of humor; an invaluable gift for process, and the skills needed to have hard conversations. She’ll hate that I’m writing this, but I believe wholeheartedly that she has been a true partner and the best teacher I have ever had the privilege to learn from.  
Change often makes us uncomfortable, but I would urge us to sit in our discomfort and rest in the knowledge that Christ our Mother Hen is brooding over Rev. Molly, our parish, and St. Mary’s in the Mountains.** We need to take the time it takes to navigate this transition, and not try and rush through it, because in doing so, we would miss the Holy Spirit in our midst. 
On Sunday September 24 we will celebrate Rev. Molly’s ministry with SsJA. This will include prayers of farewell and prayers for the ending of a pastoral relationship, a tradition of the Episcopal Church. This tradition is meant to help the parish and clergy persons transition well. As Rev. Molly noted - this is not goodbye forever, but rather a shift in relationship. 
Following our farewell, we will need to spend much of the next year in our own discernment. 

• We need to first get reacquainted following this sabbatical time. I have changed and grown as a result of this sabbatical, and I know you have as well. How will this inform our ministry together moving forward? 
• Then, we will need to have some hard conversations. Our staff has downsized considerably in recent years (Deacon, Faith Community Nurse, ¼ of the Parish Administrator hours, and now our Associate Rector). Similarly, many lay leaders learned to slow down as a result of the pandemic, moving at a more sustainable pace.  We need to once again reexamine our expectations about what is realistic and sustainable for our current staff and lay leadership with regard to mission and ministry. We need to recognize we are finite beings with limited time and energy resources. How do we be the Church well in our shifting landscape? 

We know God is doing a new and beautiful thing, just as we know Christ our Mother Hen is brooding over us, and that the Holy Spirit will provide what we most need when we least expect it. Like all transitions, this one will be bittersweet. But let’s walk through it together, taking the time it takes, just as we have walked through so much together since we became Saints James and Andrew. Let us see where the path takes us, and how God is calling us to be the Church during this next leg of the trail.  
God, you have given us so much. 
Now give us one thing more;
glad and thankful hearts. Amen.*

With love and peace,
Rev. Heather

 * This prayer is adapted from a stanza in George Herbert’s poem, Gratefulness
** The image of Christ as our Mother Hen comes from Matthew 23:37-39