I’m writing to let you know that I have decided to retire from my ministry at First Unitarian this coming June. When I was called to this congregation back in 1995, little did I know I would go on to spend close to half of my life serving this community. Being your minister for these 31 years has been one of the great privileges of my life.
Why now? My plan had been to retire a year from now but some recent events have caused me to reevaluate that plan. Since last November I have been dealing with some loss of vision. After seeing many specialists the good news is that I’m hopeful the condition won’t get worse. But as it is with any medical condition this has forced me to reflect a little more urgently on what the future holds for me and the right time to begin this next chapter of my life.
The other reason is the awareness that despite some hard years with the Covid pandemic and navigating staff transitions, the Church is in a good place. Rev. Alison Miller is now well settled as senior minister. The church is in good hands.
What are my plans? They are still evolving but I have some ideas. Recently my partner Keith and I have purchased a 1985 Volkswagen Vanagon and it is our plan to take a year to travel around the country. Right now there’s a map of North America on the dining room table and we are placing Post-it notes by places where we know people or where we’d like to visit. This will be an adventure in all kinds of ways and I find myself both excited and a little scared at the prospect.
Many emotions come with a transition like this. I’m feeling lots of excitement, plenty of sadness, but mostly gratitude for the privilege of serving this congregation for all these years. It will be important in the next few months that we have time for goodbyes. I’ll do all I can to make myself available. I hope this can be a time to celebrate my time at the church. Time for gratitude to be expressed. A time to name accomplishments and mistakes. A time to give thanks and to ask for forgiveness and to offer forgiveness where needed. One of the things I have learned through these years is that the church is perhaps the most human of institutions–we bring our best selves and sometimes our worst selves here. The good news is we find our way home as often as we do.
I expect you will be hearing more from Rev. Alison and the Board about plans for staffing in the next couple years. Protocols will require me to be away from the congregation for a year or two. It is my hope to be named minister emeritus by the congregation.
One of the gifts of this place has been being part of such a long tradition of ministry. I’m especially proud to have helped serve the church under three senior ministers and to help guide through the transitions from one to another. I’m proud to have been your pastor and to officiate at so many memorials and weddings. I have been proud to have helped build the lay ministry program and to have worked with so many wonderful and caring people in the process. Things haven’t always been easy but it has been a privilege to see people step up and look to the greater good of the institution of the church over and over again.
We are in times of change in so many parts of our lives and the church is certainly part of that. When I came to the church it was in a season of growth and change. Lately the impacts of Covid have challenged the patterns of church as we have known it. And what the future holds we can’t know. But what I do know is that this congregation through its long history has changed with the times to offer ministry and witness to the city and the larger world. Just what will this congregation look like a decade from now? I don’t know the details but I am hopeful.
I can’t quite imagine not being your minister. That is going to take some time. And I also know the time is right for me to begin my next chapter. I begin this transition full of love and gratitude and I hope these next months will have plenty of both of those.
Love and blessings,
Rev. Thomas Disrud
Associate Minister