Dear People of St. Andrew’s,
Blessings
and peace to you. I am honored and
humbled by the call to come to St. Andrew’s, and I am very much looking forward
to serving in your midst as together we discern and carry out the ministry to
which God is calling us.
Already
you have given me much to be grateful for.
Thank you for your prayers and kind expressions of condolence to me and
my family after my father’s death. I’m
doing okay. Although I’m sad, of course,
mostly I am relieved that Dad is free of his suffering and has entered a new
and better life. I thank God for the
sure and certain hope of resurrection.
I
am also grateful to you for your life-giving, soul-renewing gift of a February
1 start date for my ministry at St. Andrew’s.
My focus over the past six weeks has been caring well for the people of
St. George’s so that there will be a healthy closure for the parishioners there
and for me – allowing them to be open to the ministry of their next priest; and
allowing me to be fully available to you when I arrive. Having December and January as “down” time,
with no parish responsibilities, is a tremendous blessing for me. Not only will I be able to carry out some
household and family tasks that I have been pushing onto a very over-filled
(!!) back burner for far too long, but also, and more importantly, those two
months will provide me with opportunities for prayer and reflection and retreat
time. My February arrival at St.
Andrew’s gives me a precious two-month pause in which to catch my breath, get
my bearings, and prepare myself for my life and ministry in your midst. On February 1, you will receive a much better
priest than you would if I arrived earlier.
Thank you for that gift.
I
have been holding St. Andrew’s in my prayers for many months, ever since you
first started your search, and long before I decided to submit my name. (God does indeed work in mysterious ways!) Know that I continue to hold you in my
prayers, asking for God’s blessings for you in this in-between time, and for
God’s blessings on our shared ministry in the years to come. Please hold me in your prayers, too.
See
you in February!
Faithfully,
Anne +
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