Bishops experienced in the ministry and art of retirement, of gracious leave-taking unfolding across weeks and months, have told me about the poignancy of last visits to congregations. In a diocese with 133 missions and parishes such as the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles, some of mine occurred two or three years ago, before we were (or at least I was) thinking much about transition.
But it’s inescapable in these last months, as Bishop-elect Antonio Jose Gallardo Lucena’s consecration and ordination approaches on July 11. None will be more personally affecting than last Sunday’s. At St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Tustin, leave-taking, homecoming, and a reunion of extended family all happened at once.
I became friends on sight in 1999 with the innovative St. Paul’s rector and our dean in her region, the Very Rev. Canon Kay Sylvester, who also chairs the consecration committee for the bishop-elect. We were both in formation and seminary when we met. She too plans to retire this year. She is a brilliant guitarist who at times has indulgently jammed with me. I have other friends at St. Paul’s from my internship 25 years ago. A few folks even drift over from time to time from my old hang in Rancho Santa Margarita, St John Chrysostom Church.
After services, and a mighty 17 were confirmed, received, or reaffirmed, Kay laid on lunch for her leadership team an and me. Such a rich conversation! There was music minister, youth minister, composer, pastor, teacher, and preacher the Rev. David Milligan, who formed a life-changing vocational bond 30 years ago or more with one of my mentors, Kay’s St. Paul’s predecessor, the Rev. Reese M Riley. Also aboard was the Rev. Norma Yanira Guerra, the St. Paul’s rector emergent and my brilliant colleague in diocesan leadership for many years.
The Revs. Phillip Lienau (my thoughtful chaplain for the day) and Sun-Hwan Spriggs (who provides vital support to our archdeacon, the Ven. Laura Eustis Siriani), relatively newly arrived colleagues from the dioceses of Olympia and Newark, fit so comfortably around the lunch table, as did senior warden Linda Sullivan and vestry clerk Katrina Miller, who have deep roots at the parish. Over pasta and salad, everyone told their St. Paul stories.
It’s a joke from the TV series “Veep” that “change with continuity” is more of a dodge than a meaningful political motto. But in church work, it can make sense. It is something to share worship with people with whom you have shared a quarter century. As always at St. Paul’s, the service was glorious and unique. Kay had written most of the prayers, David much of the music. The chancel choir was in magnificent voice; David’s friend and colleague for many years, Deborah Middlebrooks, was at the piano, he at organ. Beaming from the pews was Kay’s spouse, Cynthia Case, a retired teacher who had just returned from a bird-watching trip to Ecuador, in time for Kay’s birthday, which we also celebrated on Sunday.
I’ve promised to bore Kay to death one day with the correlations in our formation stories. She reminded me of a touching aspect of hers when we spoke last week, preparing for my St. Paul’s visit. She wasn’t raised in the faith. Many years ago, her boss invited her to church at St. Wilfrid of York Episcopal Church in Huntington Beach.
She felt right at home and eventually discerned a call to ordained ministry. She was already enrolled in seminary when her father told her she came from a long line of Anglican priests. Her great-grandfather was the first rector of another St. Paul’s, in Charlottetown, on Prince Edward Island. When she settled into the welcoming arms of St. Wilfrid’s, she thought the Holy Spirit was offering her something new. It was actually welcoming her home. Change with continuity indeed.
