Sabbatical Writings

Letters from the Rambling Rector

August 8, 2006

My Dear Community,

Pontheolla and I ask your forgiveness for our negligence in failing, heretofore, to thank you for the marvelous farewell (for now!) party on Friday, July 7. It was grand! Another in a long line of wondrous St. Mark’s bashes. We especially thank Doris Burton and all who assisted her in making our departure so very, very memorable. Please know that the love was received and is returned!

I also thank you for Sunday, July 9. In 29 years of ordained ministry, every “last Sunday” with a people in a place was precisely that, the final Sunday before going to be with another people in another place. I’ve never had an experience of departing to return. I reveled in the feel of saying “good bye” temporarily. You, my community, make that feeling possible. Thank you.

Now, for a word or two (OK, more than that) about what we’ve been doing since July 9...

We had a great trip to South Carolina, visiting Pontheolla’s family. Most delightful. Most restful. Exactly what we needed and for which we had hoped.

This past week and next, we have been and are in St. Louis looking in on my mother and my aunt, both Alzheimer’s disease patients. This trip has been neither as delightful nor as restful. Blessedly, we’ve been able to keep my mother and my aunt in my mother’s home with round the clock care since my father’s death in April 1996. However, truth to tell, as we’re unable to look in with any regularity on the caregivers, things can go awry. Hence, we’ve been catching up and following up with the caregivers and their supervisor, hoping that our attempts “to clear the air” bear good fruit.

BTW, during our visits to SC and St. Louis, we have encountered “the other” - mostly in the form of a traditional Christianity of a rather doctrinaire sort. I’ve taken to writing brief reflections on each notable encounter, which, in some form, I will share in the future.

Three final things...

First, we miss you. There is no community under the sun like St. Mark’s!

Two, in regard to keeping in touch, I’ve relearned something old and learned something new about myself.

As for the “something old.” I change my mind, regularly, repeatedly. (As I’m wont to say to our staff, much to their chagrin, I think, a policy is a policy and applies, except in cases when and where it doens’t, which must be discerned and decided on a case-by-case basis.) When I departed on 7/9, I had said that I wanted to be informed only of the most important concerns, like that of the sickness or death of members. Well, I’ve changed my mind. The way I’m personally, psychologically, and spiritually "wired", you are my community and I don’t wish to be totally cut off from you during my absence. (Frankly, the notion of returning to you on February 1, 2007, and attempting to digest immediately information from the previous 6 months doesn’t appeal to me at all.)

As for the “something new,” given our age of hyper-communication, information can be transmitted in a moment’s breath.

Putting these two together, I plan to stay in touch, receiving, on occasion, (but not replying to) information via our St. Mark’s egroups and website. In this regard, Shearon’s innovative, “This Week at St. Mark’s,” is wonderful. Sharp. Smart. Savvy. In other words, a terrific idea! Thanks, Shearon.

Three, please continue your good support of Shearon, Mike, Charley, the Vestry, the Parish Officers, and the Staff.

Love and Peace, always and in all ways,
Paul