The Revd Deacon Polly M. Bowen

A couple of months ago, Alice Brown told me she would be leaving her job as Office Manager. That was crushing news to me. Alice was already here six or seven years ago when I became a daily fixture in the office, and her encouragement, guidance and assistance were invaluable to me as I learned to be a proper, visible member of the parish clergy. Until then I had been a diocesan deacon, visible to the parish only on Sundays.

Stunned by the news, I nevertheless agreed that it was for the best – Alice’s best, not ours, but I knew that we would stumble along somehow. And stumble we did – Father Dan and I found ourselves totally lost without her that first week. We managed to get a bulletin out – with numerous errors undetected until Sunday morning – and even a fairly normal-looking Apostle, full of articles we had written when we were still securely comfortable in Alice’s presence.

But it wasn’t long before we knew we had to do some interviewing, and fortunately Missy Weisbeck came for an interview. She was friendly, energetic and likeable, and she said she could start the next day. All of our troubles were over, we thought, and we hired her on the spot. We knew the job was a difficult one, but we also knew that Alice was a phone call away, and that she would stop in and work with Missy as needed for the rest of the month.

But the job was larger than even we imagined – and we had to hire a financial person (thank you, Gretchen, for stepping in). I thought about needing two people to replace Alice, and I wasn’t surprised – I knew she had been doing far more than her paycheck indicated. I was there when the job expanded beyond belief as she took on things the former Rector had done. (Never mind that he did far too much himself and should have learned to delegate more – he wouldn’t have delegated it all to one person anyway.) Capable Alice had simply, uncomplainingly, willingly taken on more and more responsibility, and we – and the vestry – were only dimly aware of how overworked she was.

And all of the above is simply incidental to the fact that I sorely miss Alice’s presence in the office. We have become good friends, supporting each other in all sorts of circumstances, weathering the crises and celebrating the good times together. I was comfortable with Alice here.

But I am a big girl, I thought, and I know that life isn’t always comfortable. I know that it was best for Alice to move on, and I also know that I will still see her as she worships with us on Sundays. I can do this! Missy is friendly and capable, and I enjoy her company, and who knows? Perhaps we’ll get to be great friends, too. Both Missy and Alice are young by my standards – I’m more than old enough to be their mother, but so what? Where does it say you have to have friends only in your own age group?

I’m not sure if all this has anything at all to do with spiritual matters, which is where I usually direct my thoughts and my writing. But it does say something about Life, and how things change, and how we learn to cope with the changes. People wander in and out of our lives all the time. Relationships change; we make new friends, we say goodbye to old ones, and life goes on. The beauty of this change is that there is now a new friend in my life, and my old friend is not gone from it, for I will see her often.

Alice, may you be happy in your new job. I am grateful for the years we worked together and I look forward to Sunday worship, church events, Cursillo events, EFM events and just plain friendship moments that we will continue to share.

And Missy, welcome to St. Matthias. Already you are a welcome presence in that office two doors down from mine. I give thanks for you and I look forward to getting to know you better as we work together.