What do you call change when you don’t want to call it change? Transition. I’m transitioning to a new position … We’re making a transition in our operation … We hope to have the transition complete by …Maybe some of these sound familiar. Transition is a type of change. I think we don’t like to use the word change because it sounds so permanent and is not always the best thing. Change can be good, too, and necessary, but still jarring. Transition sounds much smoother, less abrupt, but still has to do with change in some form or another. I’m at one of those transition points in my life right now as my family and I are about to take Mary-Mullis to college. It’s a natural transition, for sure, and exciting, but one that will still take some getting used to. Our lives will be changed in some way as we transition to a new way of doing things. 

There’s another transition about to happen, as well, at the Cathedral as we get set to welcome our new Associate Organist, Dr. Lucas Fletcher. Lucas will begin his work and ministry with us on October 1, and I am excited to welcome him to our Cathedral Staff. Lucas and his wife, Courtney, will reside in Lawrence, KS, where Courtney works as an Assistant Professor of Voice at KU. You can read much more about Lucas in The Angelus coming out soon. Thank you to Dr. Paul Meier for all his work on searching for an Associate, and to the Associate Organist Search Committee members: Diane Barker, John Braum, Sharon Cheers, Bill McCandless, and Charles Shipley.

I think it goes without saying that the whole COVID period of shutdown and distancing was a huge time of transition. During that time, the Vestry and clergy reached out to call parishioners and “check-in” to see how people were doing and if they had any pastoral, or other, needs. Today, the Vestry and clergy continue to call on parishioners several times a year to check in, see what might be needed, and give updates on what is happening at the Cathedral. It’s all a way to stay connected and to help in any way in this transition to a post-COVID world or, at least, a different kind of COVID world. I am grateful to the Vestry and all who help make these calls. If, for any reason, you don’t get a call over the next couple weeks, please let me know, and I’ll see to it that someone contacts you. 

Transitions are a part of life and, together, we can help one another through these times, always reaching out in love.

Please continue to pray for one another, for our Cathedral family, for the nation, and the world.

For posts not listed here, visit our From the Dean Archive page.