Giving Thanks
I attended my first Gathering in Orlando in 2012. At the time, I was 49 years old and the rector of St. Francis Church in Holden, MA. I’m pretty sure there was a requirement that first-timers be under fifty, so I made it in just in the nick of time.
At the time GOL was still relatively young, having begun in 2006. I met Bishop Payne at that first conference; he led the orientation. I remember thinking at the time that I didn’t know there were so many Episcopal clergy from Texas! I was also glad to join the club. This past month I attended my eighth and very likely last Gathering, in Lansing, Michigan.
I need to first explain why I say that this eighth gathering was my last. A year after my first Gathering, I was invited to join the staff of the Bishop of Western Massachusetts as Canon to the Ordinary, a position I have held ever since and will hold until the end of September. I’ve accepted an interim position in the Diocese of Rhode Island that begins on October 1 and then I will likely retire when that comes to an end. So all of the Gatherings I’ve attended after that first one have been during my tenure as Canon to the Ordinary.
The gift of GOL to me has been the people I’ve met – smart people who helped restore my faith in the Church. I remember two presentations in particular from Canons to the Ordinary (now Bishops) Jose McLaughlin and Kai Ryan. Like them, I was figuring out how to lead from the second chair which is quite different from sitting in the first chair! And there is no House of Canons where we gather like the Bishops do! Most of my closest colleagues have been Provincial Colleagues and also transition officers, some of whom but by no means all, serve as Canons to the Ordinary. So along the way, GOL helped me to grow and hone my own skills for diocesan work, and also to see and hear successes and challenges from clergy across the church.
I have loved every one of the eight Gatherings I attended and I always had something to bring home, but the most powerful one for me was participating in the Gathering that focused on racial reconciliation. I think every person who attended those Gatherings was changed for the better. I have loved “stops and starts” and the reminder that sometimes we need to say no and clear the deck before we can begin something new.
Prior to this most recent Gathering, my last one had been in Malibu in 2019. Before the COVID pandemic. The past five years have changed us all in so many ways, and yet the call to “be the Church” remains. I was struck this time around that I had one minor critique of GOL previously it was that it was a bit more focused on “successes” than on “failures that lead to learning.” I get that, of course. Even when we pray that prayer from The Book of Common Prayer about how failures and disappointments lead us to acknowledge our utter dependence on God, most of us prefer to do that learning with a spiritual director or trusted colleague – not in front of a room of peers. I get that.
But I wonder if it also led a bit to an over-focus in the past on technical challenges; things which could be fixed. Perhaps the pandemic has shifted our focus in a good way. The exercise of sharing adaptive challenges was new to me this time around and I liked it a lot. In the past eleven and a half years I’ve served in diocesan ministry this has been my experience: that the challenges we face are big adaptive ones but it’s easier to just work on technical fixes because we can “manage” those better.
I should add that it’s possible I’m wrong about all of this. And it may me who has changed along the way. Either way, I experienced this last Gathering differently because of that and appreciated the sense of “humility” from all the presenters about how difficult this work is. As I headed home I found myself if we are getting better as a Church in naming these bigger challenges, which also invite deeper collaboration and sharing. Or maybe GOL is leading the way in this direction. Either way, I came home feeling encouraged that we do have smart faithful clergy who are prepared for the work that lies before us.
I’ve been invited to share in various ways over these past twelve years but this past Gathering was the first time I preached. I offered really one word in my sermon – although it took me a lot more words to get there. Courage. I said, and believe, that to truly walk in love in the times in which we are living requires tremendous courage.
GOL is eighteen years old and I’ve been hanging around for twelve of those years. As I prepare for retirement I give thanks for this next generation of leaders who will continue to gather for support, friendship, and encouragement.
The Rev. Dr. Rich Simpson will begin a new ministry on October 1 as interim priest at St. Michael’s Episcopal Church in Bristol, Rhode Island.