Tag: Transition

An Epiphany from a Road Sign

Road signs are put there to advise and warn motorists of various kinds of conditions for which they should be alert in that particular area – a winding road, a curve, wildlife crossing, an intersection.

While driving on the Ohio Pass Road near Gunnison, Colorado, I saw a road sign I’d never seen before. It looks sort of like a domino. It is a rectangle composed of two squares. The bottom square is a black box with a stripe down the middle. The top square is filled with static. Here’s a photo of it.

The sign is meant to advise motorists that the pavement ends, but the road continues. After the pavement ends, there will be bumps, potholes, dust, and other challenges. The transition can be abrupt if you don’t slow down and pay attention.

That’s a fitting metaphor for the journey of faith, isn’t it? The pavement represents the progress and accomplishments grace has helped us reach thus far. The unpaved road represents the uncertain, hazardous, and often bumpy road conditions that lie ahead. God is constantly calling us to continue moving forward and to trust in the divine guidance that will be available to us in an uncertain future. When we make the transition from the familiar to the unfamiliar, we need to pay attention and be open to guidance as we travel through new challenges. The Son of God, who is the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, has already blazed the trail for us.

It’s also a fitting metaphor for transition ministry in the Church. Transition ministers enter the community during the time between settled pastors. Our task involves helping the members of the community slow down, pay attention, and prepare for future transformation for themselves and the mission field at their doorstep. After all, with God's help, we paved the road we've been on. The same God will be there to help us pave the continuing road that lies ahead.

This is just one more sign that life is a series of transitions. Transitions are normal and necessary. What we make of them is the key to transformation. The pavement ends, but the road continues.

I’ll see you in Church!

October 26, 2014
One Last Look Through the Study Window

It has been awhile since I composed a Monday Message. This is not my last one, but it is the last one I will write from the spot I have enjoyed so much for the past twenty-two months by the big window in the study at the rectory. From this place, I have watched my friends the birds, squirrels, chipmunks, and deer gather at the feeders in the large English Oak tree. (If Bambi can think he's a skunk, I suppose these Cranbrook deer can think they are birds.) I have delighted in seeing the seasons change. I have marveled in the natural beauty of this place with all the trees and grass and flowers. I have observed people come and go from the parking lot to and from meetings, worship, study, service, and fellowship occasions at Christ Church Cranbrook. I have noticed the gardeners, craftsmen, contractors, and others as they care for these impressive buildings and gardens. It is a prime location from which to behold God’s world and God’s people!

Here, I’ve written Monday Messages, sermons, meeting agendas, lessons, letters of congratulations, appreciation, and condolence, and countless emails about our work together during this time of transition. It was here that I sat to edit and send the final draft of the announcement of the call of the person who will sit here after me. He will see many of the same things I see. Some things will look pretty much the same to him as they have to me. Other things will look completely different. That's becauase God in love and wisdom made us different people with different ways of seeing things. It is such differences that are woven together into a fabric that makes the Church strong and beautiful.

The window of the study is very large and it faces just the right direction, providing the best vantage point from which a Rector can see what's going on. I’ve often felt gratitude for such a generous gift. And I’ve often prayed for an even greater gift; that the window of my heart will be large and facing the right direction so that what I perceive with that vision will be guided by the Holy Spirit to make my ministry here faithful and fruitful. I’ve wanted to look through that window as I see the seasons change in your lives, as you come and go, as you do the work God has given you to do, and as you grow in grace and in the knowledge and love of God in Christ. I’ve seen some amazing things and I’ve watched you attempt and accomplish so much.

Together, we’ve looked at the heritage of this community of faith, the present day challenges and opportunities, the call to leadership, your relationship with your Bishop and the wider Church, and the future God sets before you with your new spiritual leader. Together, we’ve looked at ways to further the mission of the parish:

The mission of Christ Church Cranbrook is to

Learn the faith,
Live the faith,
Love the people in our midst, and
Spread the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Through
Expansive Ministries with Children and Youth,
Challenging Adult Christian Formation,
Abundant Outreach,
Extravagant Hospitality,
Generous Stewardship, and
Intentional Leadership Development.

The way I see it, both through the window in the rectory study and the window in my heart, we’ve accomplished great things for the advancement of God’s reign, the healing of hurts, the formation of lives, and for the future of the Christian faith.

The way I see it, you are ready to welcome your new Rector and his family to join you in a remarkable adventure of faith in which your role as the leading Episcopal Church in the state will be strengthened and your influence in the wider Church at home and abroad will make a significant difference.

The way I see it, the golden days in the life of Christ Church Cranbrook lie ahead of you and the greatest chapters in your testimony to our Savior Jesus Christ have yet to be written.

Next Sunday will be the last one I spend with you as your Interim Rector. Ironically, my last actual public service of worship will be a wedding at 4:00 p.m. on Saturday, August 30. After that wedding, I’ll be removing my vestments as Fr. Bill Danaher is putting his on to celebrate his first Eucharist with you at 5:00 p.m. Talk about a “seamless transition!” Between now and then, I still have several things to finish, so you’ll be seeing me around.

Gay and I are still not certain where our next place of ministry will be. This is not unusual in transition ministry. We are in conversation with several persons and are confident that the right opportunity will soon be revealed. It is a time of discernment for us. Fr. Bill and the Wardens have graciously offered us the use of the Wolgast House for the next few weeks as we determine our next steps. Our hearts are filled with gratitude for you and for the time we’ve spent with you.

The way I see it, God is still bountiful, God’s people still seek his face, God’s world still needs the Church to be at its best, and the best is yet to be!

I’ll see you in Church!

August 18, 2014
Sermon at Christ Church Cranbrook ~ October 21, 2012

Proper 24B

Listen to the Sermon for October 21, 2012

Read the Sermon for October 21, 2012

October 23, 2012
Sermon at Calvary Church ~ October 7, 2012

Collect & Readings for Proper 22B

Listen to the Sermon for October 7, 2012

Read the Sermon for October 7, 2012

October 7, 2012
More or Less Important
Gay and I have come to another time of transition in our journey. Calvary Episcopal Church in Ashland, Kentucky has called a new rector. The time has come for us to leave Calvary and move to another place of ministry. Those who have known me for a while can appreciate the irony in this.

I was trained in a communion where clergy traditionally "itinerate," then became a priest in the Episcopal Church where the norm is for clergy to be "settled." In the one, clergy are appointed for one year at a time and expect to move on short notice. In the other, clergy are called to a place of ministry and tend to expect to remain settled there for years. It is ironic that I am now engaged in an itinerant ministry in a Church of settled clergy. My job is to move from place to place on a somewhat frequent basis, helping congregations manage transitions between settled rectors.

These times are bittersweet. We share our lives with people for a short while, and then we go. I won't say we go "our separate ways." For to say that would be to ascribe to our individual journies more significance than to The Journey on which we travel together in the Communion of Saints. We form relationships and it is not normal for those relationships to be discarded just because our corporate life takes us to another geographical location. There are boundaries that must be set in place when clergy leave a place. But those boundaries do not mean we do not care nor that we cannot remain in touch with those whom we have grown to love as we have shared in Christ's mission.

My priestly duties come to a conclusion in this community and soon will begin anew in another community. The new rector will be leaving her priestly duties in one community and begin them anew in this one.

In truth, these experiences are not unique to interim ministry; they just happen more frequently for us. When this time comes, I always think of something that I learned early in my vocational life as I was preparing to be licensed to preach. During the course of study, I had to answer a series of questions for each unit. In one unit, the question was, "In what way was John the Baptist the precursor to Jesus Christ?" I didn't even know what a "precursor" was! A visit to the dictionary told me that a precursor is "a person or thing that comes before another of the same kind; a forerunner." The role of John the Baptist was to go before Jesus to prepare the way for him and his ministry, which was very different from that of John.

The heart of my answer to the question then and now is found In the third chapter of John (Jn. 3:22-30), when John's disciples come to him with concern about Jesus, who now appeared to be in competition with John. John's response to them was, "He must increase, but I must decrease" (Jn. 3:30).

This is not exactly "Lame Duck Theology." There is still transition work to be done. It is healthy ministry. The time comes when one moves on and another arrives to lead God's people into a new era of mission and ministry. What John did for Jesus, we do for those who come after us. Each builds upon whatever has gone before. Each steps into a future where we must have confidence that God will meet us there to lead, guide, and direct.

It is time for me to become less important at Calvary and for the new rector, The Reverend Antoinette "TJ" Azar to become more important. I am quite proud of the devoted work of the nominating committee and vestry in calling her as the new leader of this parish. I predict that their ministry together will be fruitful in many ways – new ways, powerful ways, transforming ways!

In a few days, it will be time for me to announce where I am going next. In that community, a priest is saying farewell to people he has loved and cared for. In this community, a priest is on the way to a community that is opening its arms to welcome her. It's the way things work in this Church – and most churches for that matter – and in transitional ministry. God be with all of us in this and every transition so that our work will be done to God's glory and not our own. For it is God who is constant in this ever-changing ministry.

There is no limit to what we might accomplish if it is always God who gets the credit!
September 20, 2012
May God continue the good work begun in you!

My service as Rector in the Interim at the Church of the Good Shepherd is drawing to a close. I will begin a new interim assignment at Calvary Church in Ashland, Kentucky on Shrove Tuesday. You are preparing to welcome your new spiritual leader, The Rev. Brian Cole. The community to which I am going has just said farewell to The Rev. Jeffrey Queen, who served as their interim for two years. In the midst of all this change, I am reflecting on the wisdom St. Paul shared with the Corinthian Church regarding transitions in leadership.

The Corinthian Christians were having difficulty adjusting to new leadership. In his first letter to them, St. Paul describes how transitions are a normal aspect of the life of Christians in community. His focus is upon the common purpose of building up the Church in its mission.

For when one says, ‘I belong to Paul’, and another, ‘I belong to Apollos’, are you not merely human? What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you came to believe, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. The one who plants and the one who waters have a common purpose, and each will receive wages according to the labour of each. For we are God’s servants, working together; you are God’s field, God’s building. – I Cor. 3:4-9

I might have written it this way:

It is human nature for one to say, ‘I liked Fr. So and So’, and another, ‘I didn’t like Fr. Such and Such’. Both are Pastors who tried to help you in your journey of faith using the gifts the Lord gave to each of them. One planted seeds, another watered them, but the resulting growth came from God. So, it’s really not about the Pastor, it’s about God! Each of us Pastors has a common purpose and that is to help you have enough faith to do the work God has prepared for you to walk in. – I Ron 3:4-9

I am not the Pastors who came before me. Nor am I the Pastors who come after me. God has gifted each of us in different ways according to the leadership God desires the Church to have in a particular place and time. Each of us brings something different to the communities we serve. Each one builds upon the work of those who came before, so the changes each one brings are not intended to dismantle things. Instead, the changes are related to the common purpose we share and are to be understood as additions or enhancements to what has been. Our common purpose is to help you be the Church in mission. It’s not about Fr. So and So or Fr. Such and Such. It’s not about me. It’s about God and God’s mission of reconciliation in the mission field at your doorstep.

You have been very open to changes during the last eighteen months. However, change is difficult for many people. We don't like it when something upsets the equilibrium and pushes us out of our comfort zone. So we resist and complain. Resistance to change, while human, can undermine the true spiritual discernment that has led to this union of Pastor and People, thwarting God's purpose. Most complaining about change when a new Pastor arrives constitutes avoidance of the real work to which God is calling the faithful. Valuable spiritual energy is wasted in an activity that is useless to the cause of Christ! So, I urge you to embrace the changes that are coming your way as new ways for God to work through you and your community of faith.

This time of transition is a unique opportunity for God to work wonders through divine interaction with the new relationships that are being formed. That is why departing clergy must step away. God is creating a new context in which to bring about growth. Trust God enough to invite your new Pastor and encourage one another to fully express the gifts God has given to help you be the Church. You will grow, the Church will grow, and the Kingdom of God will grow.

So let no one boast about human leaders. For all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all belong to you, and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God. – I Cor. 3:21-22

Gay and I will continue to hold you and your new Rector and his family in our prayers. We will miss you, but we will rejoice as we watch from a distance as a new era of fruitful ministry unfolds. May God continue the good work God has begun in you!

Faithfully yours,

P.S. – Here is the diocesan leave taking policy, which the Senior Warden and I have signed.

February 16, 2012
The human capacity for purposeful change is a divine gift

Earlier this week, I was involved in a conversation in which the topic of resistance to change came up. We acknowledged that everyone has some degree of difficulty with change, regardless of how beneficial or unavoidable it may be. At the same time, we agreed that human beings are endowed by our Creator with a remarkable capacity for change. In fact, the pages of sacred scripture are filled with examples of how the exercise of that capacity has impacted the story of God’s people. Also, in the New Testament, change is a central to the message of Jesus Christ. “Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent, and believe in the gospel’” (Mark 1:14, 15). The Greek imperative metanoiete, which we translate “repent”, is a call to change one’s life.

Some biblical stories are about those who were able to make the changes necessary to be faithful to God, such as Abraham, Moses, David, and the Holy Apostles. Other stories tell us about those who were unable to make such changes, such as the people who were destroyed by the Great Flood, the generation of Hebrews who had been slaves in Egypt, several generations of Israelites whose apostasy resulted in defeat and captivity, the rich young man who came to Jesus, and, of course, Judas Iscariot.

There’s good change and there’s bad change and, quite often, there’s just change. Not all change is equal. But life, as God gives it, is one change after another. The struggle with change is bound up with the struggle with faith in God. Those who thrive are those who adopt a hopeful attitude toward our God-given potential, draw upon the uniquely human capacity for adaptation, and bring about purposeful refreshment, recreation, and renewal among the communities where they live and worship.

Simply put, our faith provides us with insight into how to draw upon that capacity for creative living and the advancement of God's redemptive purposes.

One of my favorite prayers from the Book of Common Prayer came to mind as I was thinking about the relationship between change and faith. When I turned to it, I realized that it is a prayer that is primarily used in liturgies for times of significant transition in the Church’s life and liturgical cycle – such as Ordinations, the Celebration of a New Ministry, Good Friday, and the Great Vigil of Easter. It is a wonderful prayer for any time in the life of the Church, but especially when we are asked to make some sort of change as we progress in the journey of faith. I commend it to you today:

O God of unchangeable power and eternal light: Look
favorably on your whole Church, that wonderful and sacred
mystery; by the effectual working of your providence, carry
out in tranquillity the plan of salvation; let the whole world
see and know that things which were cast down are being
raised up, and things which had grown old are being made
new, and that all things are being brought to their perfection
by him through whom all things were made, your Son Jesus
Christ our Lord; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity
of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

May 5, 2011
Sermon at Good Shepherd ~ October 3, 2010

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October 3, 2010
Transition

I am preparing to leave one community of faith where I have served as interim for the past year and am anticipating appointment as interim in another location in the near future. The community I am leaving is preparing to welcome a new spiritual leader. The community to which I go will be saying farewell to theirs. In the midst of all this change, I am reflecting on the wisdom St. Paul shared with the Corinthian Church regarding transitions in leadership.

The Corinthian Christians were having difficulty adjusting to new leadership. In his first letter to them, St. Paul describes how transitions are a normal aspect of the life of Christians in community. His focus is upon the common purpose of building up the Church in its mission.

For when one says, ‘I belong to Paul’, and another, ‘I belong to Apollos’, are you not merely human? What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you came to believe, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. The one who plants and the one who waters have a common purpose, and each will receive wages according to the labour of each. For we are God’s servants, working together; you are God’s field, God’s building. – I Cor. 3:4-9

I might have written it this way:

It is human nature for one to say, ‘I liked Fr. So and So’, and another, ‘I didn’t like Fr. Such and Such’. Both are Pastors who tried to help you in your journey of faith using the gifts the Lord gave to each of them. One planted seeds, another watered them, but the resulting growth came from God. So, it’s really not about the Pastor, it’s about God! Each of us Pastors has a common purpose and that is to help you have enough faith to do the work God has prepared for you to walk in. – I Ron 3:4-9

I am not the Pastors who came before me. Nor am I the Pastors who come after me. God has gifted each one of us in different ways according to the leadership God desires the Church to have in a particular place and time. Each of us brings something different to the communities we serve. Each one builds upon the work of those who came before, so the changes each one brings are not intended to dismantle things. Instead, the changes are related to the common purpose we share and are to be understood as additions or enhancements to what has been. Our common purpose is to help you be the Church in mission. It’s not about Fr. So and So or Fr. Such and Such. It’s not about me. It’s about God and God’s mission of reconciliation in the world beyond those red doors.

Change is difficult for many people. We don't like it when something upsets the equilibrium and pushes us out of our comfort zone. So we resist and complain. Resistance to change, while human, can undermine the true spiritual
discernment that has led to this union of Pastor and People, thwarting
God's purpose. Most complaining about change when a new Pastor arrives constitutes avoidance of the real work to which God is calling the faithful. Valuable spiritual energy is wasted in an activity that is useless to the cause of Christ!

This time of transition is a unique opportunity for God to work wonders through divine interaction with the new relationships that are being formed. God is creating a new context in which to bring about growth. Trust God enough to invite your new Pastor and encourage one another to fully express the gifts God has given to help you be the Church. You will grow, the Church will grow, and the Kingdom of God will grow.

So let no one boast about human leaders. For all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all belong to you, and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God. – I Cor. 3:21-22

August 12, 2010
What in God’s Name is Going on Here?

That's the question The Rev. Dr. Rob Voyle asks whenever he walks into a church. Voyle is an Episcopal Priest, transitional minister, consultant, and leader of one of the top interim minister training programs. He explains the significance of his question in this description of the first time he asked it in a sermon at a church in transition:

What the question had raised in the minds of the people was the unintelligible gossip, or everything that was going on that was not in God's Name. What I am most interested in however is the real answer to the questions: Where is God at work in your midst? Where do you find God? Where do you see God acting in your life and in the lives of your fellow parishioners? Or in other words; What in God's name is going on here?

Voyle is a leader in the development and use of appreciative coaching in his work with clergy. He describes Appreciative Inquiry as a congregational development process:

Where the Church and its leaders are a mystery to be embraced rather than a problem to be solved. Our Purpose is to transform the Church from being a place of fear to a place of love, where duty and obligation become passion and delight, threat and intimidation are replaced by freedom and joy, and mediocrity is redeemed to competent excellence.

Appreciative Inquiry, founded by David Cooperrider, is the model Dr. Voyle uses in coaching clergy and congregational leaders. It is based on the idea of discovering what works and gives life to an organization and building on these life-giving properties.

This model follows a process of inquiry to discover people's best experience as a basis for imagining a future and designing the processes and structures that will make the imagined future a reality. In other words, it is a process that asks, "What in God's Name is going on here?" and concentrates on the discoveries in the lives of parishioners, rather than on problems or deficits. It is less prone to initiating a negative, blaming, and judgmental atmosphere. Or, in other words, it is NOT focused on what is going on that is NOT in God's Name!

Dr. Voyle describes Appreciative Inquiry as a five phase (5D) process:

1. Define: Committing to the Positive
2. Discover: Valuing the Best of What Is
3. Dream: Visioning the Ideal
4. Design: Dialoguing What Needs to Be
5. Deliver: Innovating What Will Be

Dr. Voyle is presenting a workshop, Appreciative Inquiry for Vestries and Church Leaders at several locations in the Midwest, including one sponsored by the Diocese of Kansas on April 24 at St. David's in Topeka. The Very Rev. Steve Lipscomb, Dean of Grace Cathedral in Topeka, says this workshop is designed for vestry members and church leaders of churches:

• wanting to discover their purpose and grow their sense of mission;
• in transition and are seeking new rectors;
• that need to embrace the future rather than run from the past; and
• that want to grow in the love and joy of being children of God.

We have been quietly applying Appreciative Inquiry during this time of transition at Trinity Church in Lawrence, Kansas. In contrast to the old model of interim ministry as maintaining the status quo between rectors, we have been discovering places in the life of the parish where people are encountering God and opening hearts and minds to a future grounded in those positive faith experiences of its people.

I find it all very hopeful! "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future" (Jer. 29:11).

April 15, 2010