Monday, August 8, 2016

Proper 15 c - Jeremiah 23:23-29

Jeremiah 23:23-29
“…let the one who has my word speak my word faithfully.” The Reverend Eric Schulze, my mentor, my colleague, my friend, was one who always spoke the word faithfully and in meeting the God who fills heaven and earth this morning received the reward of his faith, the salvation of his soul. He’ll be remembered for many things but I will always be eternally grateful to him for allowing me to be a pastor who spoke the word faithfully in my own way. There are clergy partnerships that do not work well together and congregations suffer when pastor personalities conflict. Pastor Eric was always better than me in that regard and even when he hated (and I don’t think that is too strong a sentiment) the ideas I had I think he always thought about Calvary first and was willing to think the future is not bound by the past and maybe the present reality has to accept that. Our capital campaign theme “Celebrate Tradition, Imagine the Future.” might be an apt description of the years Eric and I spent working side by side. I will miss him but I don’t mourn him. He has joined the vast cloud of Calvary witnesses and even now is cheering us on. Thanks be to God.

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