July 16, 2008

Dear Friends:

As many of you already know, I’ll be retiring as of January 1, 2009. The decision has been a difficult one because you are an amazing community of wonderful people and that makes leaving Messiah a bittersweet decision.

The impetus to retire has been sparked by the move to North Carolina of all three of our daughters with their families. They all live within ten minutes of each other, and we look forward to having more time to spend with them to enjoy the adventure of helping with our four grandchildren. We hope to spend some time in Rhinebeck as our son is still here, and we also look forward to continuing the wonderful friendships we share.

Leaving the parish doesn’t mean retiring from all pastoral work. I do hope to help in parishes in anyway that I can be useful. The gift of ministry is one I deeply cherish.

We still have several months to enjoy sharing our faith journey together. Joy and I feel so blessed to be part of this amazing parish family. We pray that the family spirit at Messiah will continue to grow even deeper. Thank you for 24 wonderful years.