Twenty Years
Vol. 57 No. 28 | First Sunday after Trinity | June 7, 2026
I have now been your rector for twenty years—a milestone that rather crept up on me. Had the congregation not so kindly marked the occasion, I might have let it pass with little comment, but your acknowledgment has prompted some reflection.
On May 26, 2006, after election by the Wardens and Vestry, I was instituted as Rector of St. John’s by the Bishop of Georgia, entrusted with pastoral responsibility for this parish in matters of doctrine, worship, and the ministry of Word and Sacrament. The office grants a considerable degree of freedom for the priest to act according to his own best judgment and conscience, but thereby makes him accountable for his stewardship of the ministry of Christ entrusted to him. As St. Paul says, “It is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.”
The Prayer Book teaches us to pray for the faithfulness of the clergy “both in life and doctrine”, that they may “set forth thy true and lively Word, and rightly and duly administer thy holy Sacraments.” A minister’s life ought not contradict the Gospel he proclaims—but it is a vocation that has a way of exposing one’s weaknesses and illusions. Painful but not to be avoided. One learns the limits of one’s own goodness, and so learns (I hope) to rely more fully on God’s.
For me, faithfulness in doctrine has always been inseparable from stewardship of the theological, liturgical, and spiritual inheritance we have received as Anglican Christians, embodied for us in the historic Book of Common Prayer and Articles of Religion, an unmatched means for our formation in the gospel. There are many ways of being Christian, each with its own gifts and weaknesses. But this is the tradition entrusted to us in this place and at this time, and we are accountable for what we have received. From my earliest years in ministry, I have been saddened by how casually and even contemptuously many Anglicans and Episcopalians have treated that inheritance, as though it were an embarrassment to discard or a thing of indifference rather than a treasure of the church’s gospel tradition to be “received and handed on” (1 Corinthians 15:3). Age has moderated the jeremiads of youth on this matter, but not the conviction behind them. Faithfulness to my calling has meant receiving this inheritance gratefully and transmitting it faithfully. There is room for flexibility in many matters; in this one there is not. Faithfulness in ministry is not for the faint of heart. Obstinacy can be holy. (Some might think I am abundantly equipped in that particular virtue.)
It was this conviction that drew me to St. John’s in the first place and has kept me here ever since. By the grace of God and the faithfulness of those who came before us, this parish had not sold its patrimony for a mess of pottage. It cherished the faith and worship it had received and was willing, when necessary, to contend for them. Over these twenty years we have sought to do the same together. It is a commitment that has made St. John’s an outlier within the Episcopal Church, though we have tried to occupy that position with grace rather than belligerence. Yet preserving the old ways has never been an end in itself. One of the great joys of these years has been watching newcomers discover them for the first time. Many whose souls are now being formed in the gospel by this tradition did not inherit it. They found in it a depth and wisdom that speaks powerfully to modern life. The old ways are worth preserving not because they are old, but because they transmit a truth that endures.
Like every church in America, we face the challenges of a culture increasingly distant from organized religion. There is no room for complacency, but neither is there reason for panic. Every generation must meet the challenges of its own time. Yet not every innovation is progress, and not every pragmatic strategy is faithful. The temptation to trade substance for relevance is as real today as it has ever been. Likewise, the task remains what it has always been: to receive faithfully what has been entrusted to us, to hand it on unimpaired to our posterity, and to trust that God will use it for his purposes.
That task belongs not to a rector alone, but to a parish. Whatever faithfulness has been found here over the years is the result of many people, over many generations, receiving what was handed to them and refusing to let it go. We are beneficiaries of their labor, and stewards of their inheritance. What we have received, we must uphold and share with the world.
For my own part, I owe a debt that can only be paid in gratitude. For your prayers, friendship, patience, encouragement, and steadfast support of the faith and worship we share, thank you. Whatever good has been accomplished belongs first to the grace of God. It has been one of the great privileges of my life to spend these years among you. My prayer is that the years ahead, whatever they may bring, will be marked by the same calling that has guided the years behind us: faithfulness.