THE REV. BETH FRANKLIN
I write to share with news that is both joyful and sad. After six years of faithful pastoral leadership at St. James’s, The Rev. Blake Singer has been called to become the next Priest in Charge at St. Michael’s Episcopal Church, Bon Air. This community is embedded in the neighborhood where Blake and his family live, in the Diocese of Southern Virginia. St. Michael’s provides him an opportunity that is perfectly suited for his gifts, and widens the circle of those who will benefit from his leadership. I could not be more thrilled for Blake and for St. Michael’s in making such an excellent call.
And, I am sad for us. Blake has been an exceptional colleague. I could not have navigated my first year without his wisdom, patience, and support. For many in our congregation, Blake has been the steady pastoral presence, the reliably hopeful voice in the pulpit, and a joyful teacher on Sundays and Wednesdays for the last six years. He was an essential and thoughtful leader in a season when clarity was hard to come by. He has left an incredible mark on this community, and on many of us. We will miss him, tremendously. As my five-year-old often reminds me, “It is possible to feel a lot of things all at once.” Indeed, I imagine we will feel many things over the next several weeks and months.
The truth is, if St. James’s is to live into our calling, we will be constantly nurturing and raising up dynamic leaders for the world and the church. We do this by planting seeds of faithfulness in our youngest children, empowering our youth to lead, discerning the call of those who feel a pull to ordained ministry, and offering clergy an opportunity to grow into their call to ordained leadership. When we do these things well, these leaders eventually feel called away to share their gifts with new communities. It is a holy, dynamic process to embrace. It is also a reality that can be challenging to embrace. Or to put it more simply, it’s hard to say goodbye to people whom we deeply love. Yet it is a tremendous gift to love and be loved so well.
The gift of working with Blake and Kyle (at the same time) for these last 6 weeks has been a clear demonstration of the ways in which three clergy allows us to more fully equip our lay leaders, support our programs, and be pastorally present in the ways this community deserves. I intend to call a third clergy person to join me and Kyle in leading St. James’s.
We will celebrate Blake, Kilpy, Finley, and Theo on Sunday, November 22, at 9:00 AM in Valentine Hall, and we will bless them on their journey at the 10:00 service. They will also be available after worship at coffee hour. Blake’s last day will be Sunday, November 22.
If you would like to contribute towards a monetary purse for the Singer family, please do so by Wednesday, November 18.
A MESSAGE FROM BLAKE
A mentor once told me that God calls us “to” rather than “away from.” I don’t think that’s necessarily true. There are certainly circumstances and situations that God calls us out of, but this is not one of those. My transition to St. Michael’s is a call to a new season rather than a call away from St. James’s. In fact, leaving this community is one of the hardest parts of embracing this new call. Over the past six years, you have surrounded and embraced me and my family in ways I couldn’t have imagined as I became a deacon, a priest, and a father not once but twice. Yours are the faces I’ll see when I remember walking down the aisle at my ordinations. Yours is the laughter I’ll hear when I remember scooping Finley up one Wednesday Night Dinner in Valentine Hall so Kilpy wouldn’t miss her first steps. Yours are the hands that I’ll remember holding Theo during those same dinners and guiding Finley to the communion rail.
I’ve been blessed beyond measure to celebrate at your altar, baptize at your font, preach from your pulpit, teach in your forums and classrooms, and walk with you and your families through some of life’s highest highs and lowest lows. In these six years, we’ve also weathered our fair share of storms together, from a global pandemic to the transition of rectors. Throughout the ups and downs I’ve always been hopeful about what God is doing at St. James’s, but never more so than now under Beth’s leadership. I can’t describe how much I’ve learned from working with and watching her over the past year, and I’m thankful to have her as a friend and mentor as I step into a senior role for the first time. It’s an incredibly exciting time in the life of St. James’s, and I can’t wait to watch all that God continues to do in and through you from across the river. St. James’s will always hold a special place in my heart. If you’re uncomfortable seeing a grown man cry, the next few weeks are probably good weeks to stay away from church. However, if you can handle the discomfort, I’ll look forward to saying our “goodbyes” in the days and weeks to come, or, more accurately, saying our “see you in the checkout line at Trader Joe’s’s.”