February 11, 2010
Dear All Saints' Parish,
Greetings! I write to you today as the most blessed priest in the Episcopal Church. You have just called me to be your next rector, and I am thrilled. Thank you for the invitation to lead and serve with you in forming disciples to share Jesus' good and liberating news for the world. Together, we will engage in a faithful and expansive ministry on behalf of God's kingdom - and hopefully, have a lot of fun along the way. I look forward to getting to know each of you.
All Saints' Beverly Hills is held up throughout the Episcopal Church as a model for a fully-alive parish that takes its Christian life seriously. The credit for this legacy is Carol Anderson's creative leadership and your committed work over the past twenty years. I have known Carol since my early days in seminary, and it is a great honor to inherit the mantel of leadership from this brilliant and faithful priest. We will build on this rich legacy - and, because kingdom work is always about forward motion, we'll be ever open to the new and fresh ways the Spirit will lead us to be a light to the city and beyond. I'm also excited about moving to Los Angeles. I fell in love with your city long ago and have worshipped with you many times when visiting friends there.
You have just been through a long search, and I'm sure many of you would like to get started right this minute. I admit that a part of me wants to be with you as of yesterday! But this interim time between Carol's retirement and my arrival is important, and it will help provide a good and healthy start to our ministry together. All Saints' is blessed with a fine clergy and lay staff. I met them during my visit in January. Mary Haddad is an outstanding priest, whose caring leadership will serve you well. Make use of this sacred time to listen attentively to what the Spirit might have in mind for us. I will certainly be doing that from this end. Soon after my arrival, it will be important to do some vision casting and your reflections from this interim period will be helpful to us all.
One last thing. Like most priests, I have seen the "inside" of a number of search processes. The All Saints' search was by far the most thorough, thoughful, and spiritually grounded in my experience. I would say this even if I had not been chosen as your rector. So my first request of you: Please generously thank your search committee, chaired by Cathy Bando; and your vestry, led by wardens Phil Nichols and Karen Swift - as well as their spouses and partners - for a full year of unrelenting, careful, and committed work in the service of All Saints' Parish.
The medieval mystic, Meister Eckhart wrote, "If the only prayer you say in your whole life is thank you, that would suffice." This is my prayer on behalf of you.
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Blessings,
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Steve Huber
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