Life of an Interim

Dear Friends,
Every once in a great while, I amuse myself seeing what search engines come up with for various topics. I have spent the last ten years assisting parishes in building their websites and working on SEO (Search Engine Optimization) so this is what passes for fun for me. Over my vacation, I typed this into a Google searchbar: “Life of an Interim Priest.”

The top ten hits were links to articles such as:

“What’s it like to be a priest?” <different every day and quite lovely>
“Ten Churches I won’t serve as an Interim”  <?? Sounds a bit cranky to me>
“Beliefs of Interim Pastors” <nope, not our denomination. And also kinda cranky>
“Interim Clergy” <The search engine description on this was “This site will not tell us anything so there is no description” which cracked me up, but it’s a great article so here is the link>

There were a number of documents and guidebooks from our own denomination and Diocese, some of which I had forgotten about and enjoyed reading again.

Here’s what didn’t get mentioned:

• Like any great love of your life, what you want for them is to move confidently into the future, knowing God is with them
• You will love watching a parish grow into the realization that they have a strong core of lay leaders
• You will lose your heart to them over and over again, and it will happen each and very time you go into a new congregation
• You will never forget them, but you will be glad when they forget you in their delight at a new Rector
• You will experience huge joy when they find the Rector who will journey with them into the future
• You will be forever changed by them

As the work of the Search Committee goes on, and you come closer each day to your new Rector, please know that all is proceeding exactly as it should. Julian of Norwich, a 14th century mystic, wrote in her book, “Revelations of Divine Love”

 Truth sees God, and wisdom contemplates God,
and from these two comes a third,
a holy and wonderful delight in God, who is love