Monday, Monday

My Dad and Debra are heading back home to Sacramento this afternoon, after all too short a visit here. But they have things to attend to in California too, not the least of which is getting things prepared there for my arrival later this summer. As I've said many times, I dread the process of making this move, but I will be so happy to BE MOVED -- to have transported myself and all this well, "stuff," that I have accumulated over the years all to one place, and to settle in for however long God gives me to doing whatever she has planned for me.

I know, it sounds fatalistic. And I had hoped that with good health Portland might have been that place -- a place where I could finish my career with a long-tenured ministry of a decade or more in partnership with a congregation that really seemed to appreciate and thrive with what I had to offer them. And I got my turn, I think I've made my mark...I have no idea how long it will last, but I suspect that the vision of being Portland's Original Faith Community and "A Warm & Welcoming Place in the Heart of the City" will endure for quite some time, since they arose originally out of the congregation itself. I simply heard them, and repeated them out loud until they started to sink in everywhere.

I'm proud of what we were able to accomplish in terms of Worship and Newcomer Hospitality: how we have worked to define that place of "elegant simplicity" which honors the traditional ambiance of the building and still leaves us space to experiment and be human. Of course, this will be the first thing up for grabs both next year and for the the new minister, as well I suppose it should be. But I'm certain the hospitality piece will remain in place; again, it's something that predates my tenure here, and which is now part of the culture itself.

Oddly, the thing I'm MOST proud of is the re-creation of an effective Finance Council. Last spring First Parish was facing a potential crisis: the Treasurer was resigning his post and moving to Belize, and no one could be found to take his place. Carl himself has suggested a "two-headed" treasurer, essentially dividing the job up between a "collector" who handled the revenue side of the ledger, and a "controller" who wrote the checks and managed expenses. But even this was proving difficult to create. I knew what the answer was: bring together all of the key players around the same table for a First Parish "financial summit," and let them work it out among themselves, which is exactly what we did, Wednesday April 30th, 2008 in the main lounge at the Seaside Rehabilitation Hospital and Health Center. My vision, my initiative, my living room...but apart from that they did it all themselves, which is exactly as it should be. Success has a thousand parents, they say, but failure is an orphan. Plenty of credit to go around here, and I honestly believe that a highly-functioning Finance Council may well prove the difference between whether this congregation struggles or thrives over the next five years.

Gosh, don't quite know how I got on to THAT topic! Maybe it was just because yesterday after church there was a brief congregational meeting to review the pledge campaign and elect the Search Committee who will chose my eventual successor. Think the Nominating Committee did an EXCELLENT job regarding the latter, and the news from the former looks fairly promising to me as well, although it could certainly be "spun" pessimistically as well. I haven't been paying too much attention to these numbers, because I don't really feel that it's my place any more; did get an advance report of what was going to be presented at the meeting, but I didn't actually attend the meeting itself since I didn't really feel that it was my place to do so. But either choice would have been awkward. So I chose to go to lunch with my family, rather than attend a meeting about things that will take place after I have left here permanently.

I've enjoyed having my Dad and Debra here these past few weeks, as well as the visit from my brother Erik and his children this weekend. It was a handful, but also delightful, and I will miss seeing them when I move back to the West Coast as well. At lunch, Erik offered a very interesting Trivia Quiz which pretty much stumped us all; posted it over at another of my blogsites, just to give folks something different to click on. Meanwhile, this week it's back to radiation, back to book packing, back to saying farewell to the good people of this parish who have come to mean so much to me. And then it's off to the Faraway Island to preach on June 21st, and then to Seattle on or around the 30th of June. How quickly the time seems to be passing! I just want to slow down and savor every second of it!