SERMON

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2002

CHURCH OF THE REDEEMER 

The words of Jesus from the Sermon on the Mount are dear to my heart, and that is why I changed the gospel reading for today.  Let me give you a little background by way of explanation.  In 1993 I began to feel both restless and unappreciated in my work as chaplain and teacher of religion at the Lawrenceville School in New Jersey.  After five years of trying to preach and live the gospel of Christ in a community more noted for hedonism and hubris than spiritual zeal, I wanted to ply my trade elsewhere.  In the anguish of the moment I encountered the reality of the Holy Spirit and knew in my heart that I wanted to live the life of a parish priest.  Many of you have listened to my story before, so I shall be brief and merciful. 

A wonderful coincidence of events conspired to show me the way.  First, in writing to my bishop I realized that I rarely celebrated the Eucharist.  I was maybe a minister but not a priest very often.  In one weekend I preached at the celebration of a new ministry at Christ Church, Winnetka and participated in a young friend’s ordination in New Orleans.  Later in that unsettling spring Jonathan Appleyard asked me to fill in at his parish in Maine for three months while he took a sabbatical.  I did that without hesitation and had my every suspicion confirmed.  God was calling me to parish work.  After some futile attempts at rectorships Sherry and I found ourselves on Robbie Johnson’s screened porch where Velura Perry helped Robbie interview us.  The rest, as they say, is history. 

I have learned so much about what a parish means: its joys and sorrows, its triumphs and failures since that July evening in 1995.  Jesus was right again.  “Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives; and everyone who searches finds; and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.”  I asked and searched and knocked.  With the guidance of the Holy Spirit I received and found and walked into the open door of this parish church and was welcomed, challenged, and went to work.  Now it is time for a new ask, a new search, and a new door for you and for Sherry and me.

By now you will have received the letter from the Wardens and me regarding my plans to retire.  In this sermon I want to share with you the remarks I made to the Vestry on September and the Staff the next day.  All this is bitter-sweet but exactly right.  The time has come, the walrus said, to do a new thing, blessed as ever by the love of God

I shall retire as your rector as of August 1, 2003 and will be on sabbatical leave from March 1.  My last Sunday will be February 23, and I am delighted that Bishop Shaw will be with us to share that occasion.  At that time Sherry and I will move to our condo on St. Mary’s St. in Brookline once we send our tenants on their way and do some redecorating

This decision is based on the need to continue to grow spiritually, to explore new fields of interest, and to enjoy less responsibility vocationally.  I will never retire in full while I am able to function well but will transform my calendar into flexible time – focusing on family, travel, courses offered in and around Boston, service as a volunteer, and a little Church work as the Bishop needs me and our schedules allow.  I shall turn 65 next July.  Maybe I am a little tired; however, now that I have, decades too late, joined a health club, my energy may rise as my weight diminishes. 

So many people like my own parents choose to work on and on – then are weary or ill and cannot enjoy fully their quiet years.  Ironically, having made this decision with Sherry, our children, Tom Shaw and the wardens a full year ago, now I have to face surgery or other treatment for a mild case of prostate cancer, diagnosed two weeks ago -- God’s way of reminding me that I am 64 and a reliable statistic. 

Between now and the end of February I shall continue to minister to this congregation vigorously and to the best of my ability.  My leave taking has not yet begun.  I plan to keep everything going smoothly, and, given the lay leadership and staff of this parish, that resolve will be readily met.   I hope and pray that I shall leave a church more vital and loving than I found in 1995, a healthy, holy, safe, welcoming place where people of all kinds can meet God in Christ.  A great opportunity lies ahead for you the leaders and the people of the Redeemer as you plan and search and find a new rector for the continued ministry of this place. 

One very important thing about any rector leaving: he or she must fully leave, neither lingering nor returning.  Old rectors never die, they just become a nuisance to the new one.  So, please do not ask me to come back like the ghost of Hamlet’s father to walk upon the walls of the Redeemer.  Please do not ask me to marry, baptize, or bury you or your offspring. Your  interim at first, then your new rector will assume all those pastoral responsibilities just as I did when I arrived here nearly seven years ago. 

The Church of the Redeemer and the Downeses are not getting a divorce.  We shall part amicably, indeed lovingly.  But we must live apart, and if we do meet as we will surely do, for goodness sake don’t let me ask about or you volunteer information concerning the interim or rector or vestry.  Of such conversations are misery and pride and dangerous chatter made.  “Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace” when it is time, with dignity, love, and respect for a church that has been Sherry’s and my spiritual home all these years.  You are a group of truly wonderful people, a generous and lovely community, all of whom we shall miss, I assure you.  May God give us all a great half-year before the farewells begin, good prayers, successful stewardship, embracing fellowship, strong education, joyful worship, serious outreach, and the sweet light of peace on our scary horizons. 

“Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you,” said Jesus.  I know that the Church of the Redeemer is in great shape and that you all know how to ask, search, and open the door.  You know, transitions are as easy as we let them be.  Because we have grown together, you are in a place for an adventure and glorious years ahead.  God, grant us ears and hearts to hear what the Spirit is saying to all of us.  AMEN.

                                                          The Rev. Richard H. Downes

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