The Kingdom of God has come near: announcing transition

Preached at St. Paul's SLC on Sunday July 6th at both services.

The kingdom of God has come near to us.

It has been over 10 years for our journey together as Rector and congregation of St. Paul’s Salt Lake City.  After much faithful discernment and prayer, I believe it is time for us to move to our next chapters of faithful ministry.  It is very important to me that Sienna be in the same place for middle and high school, which means my being Priest in the same community for at least the next 8 years.  If I answer honestly, I believe this would be too long for us to grow into what we are called next to be, and I want what is right for all of us.  

With that in my heart and mind, I have accepted a call to be the next Rector of Trinity Episcopal Church in Marble Falls TX, and to share in their mission to be a major Christian Presence in the Hill Country of Texas, proclaiming the Good News of God in Jesus Christ. This will be a return to the Diocese of my seminary education, near the place where Darlene and I first met (and fell in love), and close proximity to family caring for my mother-in-law in her challenging stage of dementia.  My last Sunday will be August 17th.

But I don’t believe this is all about me.  I believe that this is a wonderful opportunity for the leadership and people of St. Paul’s to grow their flourishing ministries, to engage the many new people we see here each week, to celebrate being the welcoming Episcopal Church so needed here in Utah, and ultimately discerning the call of their next Rector.  You have the leadership in place to do this.

While I feel conflicted, I am more proud than sad in this moment.  We have had great, faithful celebrations. We’ve survived a pandemic, and we have faithfully emerged as a transformed and growing community.  We have provided sustenance to those struggling with food insecurity, we have offered spiritual homecoming to those rejected by other communities of faith, and we continue to live into the care and upkeep of our sacred campus and the ministries that flow out from it.  I am truly most proud of what has come out of the pandemic:  the 8 a.m. morning prayer and lectionary discussion, the 9:30 a.m. outdoor worship in our third sacred space, our Godly Play ministry for our children, and the amazing choir, musicians, altar guild, lectors, acolytes,  greeters, and our Deacon, who shape the 11 a.m. liturgy.  While I have been honored to have played a role in all of this, I truly believe all of these will find ways to flourish without me, and that much more will happen as well.  You are ready for this.

I know some of you might be buzzing to talk amongst yourselves right now, or that it may feel difficult to simply continue our Sunday service, but I have chosen to use the sermon time for this announcement BECAUSE of what comes next:  reaffirming our Baptismal Covenant, promising to live out the faith “with God’s help”,  saying prayers, the confession of sin followed by the assurance of forgiveness, and then, most importantly, our sacred common meal together where we insist that everyone is truly welcome at God’s Table.  

This is what we are about.  

The kingdom of God, come near.

Blessed be the name of God.

[After I wrote this sermon, Kerrville TX, 80 miles to the south and west of Marble Falls, experienced terrible flooding and tragic loss of life.  I join the many who are praying for the victims, families, and for those searching for survivors.]