In January I announced to my congregation that I would be resigning as the pastor of ARK Community Church in Dalton, MA; effective June of this year. It is a lovely congregation, full of energy and determination to be a voice for God’s call to love all of our neighbors without condition and without judgment. Over the past 3-1/2 years since we first met, they have become good friends, and I will definitely miss them. I am confident they will do great and wonderful things in the months and years to come, and I wish them well.
I have set my feet on this new path because I had found that – regardless of whether I win in Monday’s election or not – my deepening involvement in local government, community building and social justice efforts has brought me to a point where it is no longer possible to be as engaged as I feel I must be in either field of endeavor, if I were to try to do both at the same time.
While I will no longer have a regular “Day Job” as a Minister, I’m sure I’ll occasionally preach, or officiate at a wedding or funeral. …The call to ministry is still here, just manifesting in a slightly different way most of the time.
This does not mean that the theological and political or social justice commentary that I present here in this blog will end – far from it. If anything, such written perambulations will probably increase!
My passion is, and always has been, to help bridge gaps between people: to bring them closer together, to learn to trust and respect each other, and so to make it more possible for them – both individually and as a community – to be all that they are called to be; and to live lives filled with peace, respect and happiness.
That call upon my life continues, merely in a different form.
The Here and the Hereafter 