Dear Friends,

I am eager to see you this coming Sunday, February 24th. Our interim supply preacher, the Rev. John Clarke, will be presiding and preaching, but I will be present with you in the pews at 8 am and 10 am and at the coffee hours after both services. I will then start in the office on Thursday, February 28th, and will preside and preach at the March 3rd services.

How good it will be to see you face to face and greet you! Of course, we know that our greetings will have a poignant dimension because of the recent news in my family. As you know, my spouse Thomas Brown was elected to be the tenth Bishop of the Diocese of Maine, which means we will be moving there soon.

I will be with you during the month of March, and my last Sunday at St. John’s will be March 31. I know that may seem all too soon for many. While Thomas’s consecration as a bishop is on June 22, he will begin his work on May 1, and perhaps even before then. April will be a month for us to find housing in the Portland area and to move our household there.

That means we will have the next six Sundays together in church, as well as the month of March for finding ways to say “goodbye.” After March 3, I look forward to finding specific times to meet with those of you who wish to have conversations with me about what our life together has meant.

Doug Heim and I met today with Canon Carol Gallagher, the diocesan staff person responsible for parish transitions in our area. There will be more information forthcoming about what next steps the parish will take after I leave. What is most important to me now is that we take the time to hear what the Spirit is saying to each of our hearts, to see all of God’s beauty in the communal life we have been given, and to act in Christ’s love continually even as we prepare to say “farewell.”

Faithfully,

Tom