I have never done what I am hoping to do with the people of the Church of the Advent in Madison. That is to work through this priest in charge thing and become the rector. Most of my colleagues and many of you think that I’m crazy, that I’m taking too big of a risk, or that I’m being unrealistic. Thank goodness I’ve grown accustomed to my craziness long before I met you.
This is my first – and given my age – most likely last chance to do what I’m choosing to do here. Granted, it was not originally my idea to leave Athens this year. Everybody thought Advent being served by any priest on a full-time basis was something farther down the road. Plainly and simply it was a question of affordability.
Truth is I have never attempted nor was I expecting myself to downsize my life and expenses for the sake of making this arrangement affordable. All of my previous transitions in ministry have at least been to bigger paychecks, bigger houses, if not loftier titles: assistant to rector, interim rector to university chaplain.
So now the goal, the focus, the modus operandi I’m choosing is to afford becoming the rector to Advent, Madison, sooner than the later we thought it was going to be and still with some risk. We have included semi-annual reviews so we can proceed nimbly and with care toward this shared goal, because it is risky.
It’s OK, that this is not what I or we expected. It is still and maybe especially because it has so many unusual pieces to it something that we can do. We can do well enough that we’ll be able to look back one day and say we were honored to do it.
In the meantime, thanks to Charlie and Janet Mason for use of their guest house and stay tuned for some unique ways you can help me make this transition affordable.
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