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Monday night I resigned my position as Rector of the parish. In my letter to the Senior Warden I wrote:

The past three years we have been on a journey of discovery. The Vestry has matured as a leadership body. A number of parish leaders have responded to a clear, unambiguous call to faith in Christ Jesus. This is reflected in their commitment to be faithful in worship, to the mutual support of one another in Shepherd Groups, and to honoring the Tithe as the standard of faithful giving.

Frankly, my decision came down to simple arithmetic. Despite the faithfulness of some, to attempt to cover the cost of my salary and to pay the parish debt would require that the Vestry deny financial resources to the 9:00 AM service, the 10:45 am service, and the Youth Ministry. My value as Rector does not justify the loss of the value of these programs.

Those unfamiliar with the financial cost of ministry may want to review the series of articles published last year on the theme.

I have yielded my position so the Vestry can deploy leadership it can afford. Given the strength of our parish leadership, I am confident that a competent priest with good judgment and a faithful heart – though perhaps lacking some experience – will serve the needs of the parish well.

The Vestry will need to protect the new priest. Some will have unrealistic expectations of what that priest should do. Some may persist on holding up a failed model of the church. The Vestry will need to be vigilant to resist the parish from falling into a becoming a priest-centered institution that exists to indulge the sentimental.

I asked the Vestry Monday night to receive my resignation as an expression of my confidence in the leadership of this parish. Before I resigned a number of parish leaders gave reports on the forward movements of their ministries.

The church is not a building. It is certainly not a priest, or rector, or bishop. It is not – GOD FORBID – a certain liturgical style, religious form, or sentimental feeling. The church is a faithful covenant community built on the quality of commitment Jesus demonstrated on the cross upon which he died. Any church that would deny, or undermine, or hold up any other standard of commitment dishonors our Lord.

You who respond to the invitation to commit to one another in covenant with God – and make that commitment real through your weekly participation in worship, your mutual support of one another in a Shepherd Group, and your honoring of the Tithe – you are being built up into a spiritual house. You are God’s Temple. When you allow yourselves to be formed into a faithful covenant community, the Holy Spirit dwells in the midst of you.

The apostle Peter put it this way in his letter to the church:

Come to him that living stone, rejected by men, but chosen by God. So also, you are living stones, being built up into a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. . . . You are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, his own people, that you may proclaim the praises of him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; you were once not a people, but you are now the people of God.

The darkness out of which you are called is the darkness of isolation, alienation and loneliness. His marvelous light is that which is generated by the strength of your commitment to one another.

My resignation expresses the depth of my commitment to this parish. I have resigned for the simple reason that given the economic constraints of the parish, it is the right thing to do.

Thank you for the opportunity to have served you as your Rector. You bless me.