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There are very good things
and very difficult things having to do with personal and parish relationships
for a Rector when his ministry is nearly twenty years in a particular
parish. The most difficult thing is when I bury a person whom I have
known for a lengthy period of time. It’s an honor to bury the deceased,
but then there is the grief because of the length of the relationship.
Rector’s Award
Annual Parish Meeting – 2008
There are very good things
and very difficult things having to do with personal and parish relationships
for a Rector when his ministry is nearly twenty years in a particular
parish. The most difficult thing is when I bury a person whom I have
known for a lengthy period of time. It’s an honor to bury the deceased,
but then there is the grief because of the length of the relationship.
With the individual I have
chosen to honor this morning, there have been several years of joy,
but now there is a type of grief in losing his presence here in my life
and in yours.
When I arrived here in late
1989, I was blessed with a Rector’s Warden who was clearly the right
man for the time. That man was our dear Bud Ahrens. Early on in my rectorship,
I asked Bud if he would be willing to shift gears and positions so that
he could oversee long range parish projects and planning. He agreed,
and shortly thereafter I appointed Stanley Bright to be my Rector’s
Warden. And I continued to appoint him until last year when Stanley
decided to move to Virginia. Stanley was the right man for the times.
And now I very thankfully have John Heidengren by my side.
Stanley’s gifts were and
are many. To me, his most outstanding gift was his clear thinking, and
his ability to analyze what was good for this parish in light of its
history, its chemistry, and its people. He would be my barometer as
I faced decisions and I ran ideas past him. He would encourage me at
times in what he prayerfully and thoughtfully thought to be right and
necessary, but at other times he would not hesitate to say, “It won’t
work” or “Not now.”
Stanley was the chairman of
the Search Committee that made its recommendation to the Vestry to elect
me as the parish’s 10th Rector, so it’s all his fault!
Stanley met several times with
different bishops of the Diocese of Pennsylvania and members of the
Standing Committee to see if reconciliation and a way forward could
be found for the common good of the Church.
Stanley was my faithful 7:00
AM Wednesday morning Mass acolyte before his move to Virginia. I could
go on and on.
But more than all of his gifts
and involvements for our good and to the glory of God was the deep,
man-to-man, priest to layman bond of brotherly affection that we shared
and still share from a distance. And, I must say, how lovingly Stanley
has cared for Rita and our three children as they have grown into adulthood.
Thank you, Stanley, for who
you are, and what you have been to me and for us. God bless you with His grace and guidance.
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