Dear Friends in Christ,

For obvious reasons, I have been thinking about transitions a lot lately.

This past Sunday, with Fr Peter here, I was struck by the fact that no matter how things change, sometimes they seem the same.

It’s a good thing, I think. It’s a sign of health in systems and churches. There’s a core that remains and holds steady through the various changes that come and through the personalities that come and go.

I think part of what provides stability here at Saint Philip’s is the extraordinary group of lay leaders you have—and are.

There are folks here who have been part of transitions of all kinds in churches, non-profits, and workplaces. Some of them are professionals at exactly these kinds of transitions. The Vestry has a wealth of exactly this kind of experience, and there’s a depth of wisdom and knowledge that are going to make for a prayerful, thoughtful, and discerning transition.

If you find yourself anxious about next steps, simply look around you. Look at the people you know here and remember that these people you pray with and sing with are the people who will be making decisions all along the way.

Some are people with deep experience here. Some are new and full of energetic love for the place. Some love the music. Some love outreach. Some are parents. Some are single. Some are helped to walk to communion. Some help others to walk. Some are executives. Some are artists. Some sing and some can’t carry a tune!

There’s a depth and breadth of experience here that is at the heart of this community and always has been. That’s part of that stability I’m talking about. Much has changed over the last nine years but much more has remained constant and true.

The best transition moments are ones where a vision for the future is cast informed by the values of the past but not trapped by them. The wonderful thing here is that the blend of experience, personality, knowledge, and gifts that make up this place will all come to bear on this process.

What so many of you love here today is a reflection of what has always been and that will remain true. That will remain true in no small part because you are the faithful core that will carry on that work of worship, service, and formation.

You are the choristers and the cooks. You are the teachers and the gardeners. You prepare the Altar and prep the breakfast. You plant trees and nurture our children. You make the rotas, carry the torches, polish the silver, level the pavers, plant the agaves, clean out the animal fountain, meet with the contractors, and sing so boldly.

My job has been to create space and tend the boundaries of the garden—you all till and water and plant and make it flourish. That will continue no matter the ebbs and turns of the transition.

If you look around this Sunday, you will see every reason for hope—indeed for optimism—about what’s next. This place is alive in the Spirit and committed to following Christ wherever he leads. That will be the same tomorrow as it is today, and as it has been since the first service here.

I could not be more confident in where you are going because I am so confident in you and in the movement of the Spirit in this place. The leadership you have is already at work and will be able to lay out the transition process very shortly.

Conversations with the Bishop’s office are underway and she is invested in seeing this be a process that both makes space for what is thriving to keep thriving and also asks, simply, “What’s next?”

One of my favorite scenes in the West Wing TV show comes just after President Bartlett has had some resounding victory. The staff gathers and then, by way of celebrating, he simply raps his knuckles on his desk and calmly asks, “So, what’s next?”

There’s much to celebrate and much about which we might fret, too. That’s the nature of transitions.

We’ve grown. We’ve brought in lots of new people. We’ve started new programs. We’ve let others go. We’ve weathered Covid. We’ve tried some things. We’ve failed at some things. All along the way we’ve tried to stay faithful and, I hope, done it with a sense of joy and purpose.

So what’s next?

—Fr Robert