Michaelmas-tide 2005 Letter
Saint John's Church

Michaelmas-tide 2005

Dear Members and Friends,

I thought about writing an essay entitled "What I did on my summer vacation", but it would have been far too long. I visited the sick, buried the dead, counselled the confused, tended the bereaved, took the Sacrament, met almost daily with contractors for five different projects, and, while obviously away on Sundays, spent four to six hours a day at parish or related work on weekdays. About a week and a half ago I finally went on a real holiday from any and all parish work.

I tell you this not out of any "O, poor me!" motivation, but as an insight into how hard it is for a priest in a small parish with extensive community ties to really and truly get away for the rest and renewal that prevents vocational 'burn out'. The priesthood is not a job with hours and easily definable limits for the work. As just one example, when a priest takes time away from his parishioners for rest, is he also able to refuse to minister to a stranger and his family at the time of a tragic death? This is a hard question, for the needs of a broken world are an endless stream. Where does one draw the line?

Among many other things, Jesus never envisioned our parochial system and the nature of parish life. He himself "went away to a quiet place", leaving the sick, the dying, the poor, the neglected, the tragic, and the mundane in order to commune with God our Father and receive the strengthening of the Holy Spirit to enable his vocation and ministry. He was a man able to make clear 'boundaries', as we say today. I have been a person able to do this pretty well myself, but in recent years I have allowed the boundaries to blur, repeatedly carrying the work of the priesthood into time needed for renewal and thus depleting my ability to minister effectively and graciously, in the truest sense of the word. I say this as a warning: do as I say, not as I have done.

Take time away from work. Have fun. Feel your life. Renew your spirit. SLOW DOWN. As Fr Schmidt used to tell the sisters at All Saints' Convent- "At this pace, you are going nowhere but down the hill (to the convent cemetery) in a pine box." An unexamined, unreflected-upon life is stunted, dangerous, and wasted- in short -sinful.

I plan to take my own advice, and make the annual retreat that I have put off for the last four years. I urge you, if at all possible, to do the same. A blessed Michaelmas-tide to you all!

Yours faithfully,

(The Rev'd) Jesse L. A. Parker
Rector of Saint John's Church