My oft-stated goal for the end of my pastoral service here was "to retire normally." I am only the fourth installed pastor of this congregation, started in 1958 during the post WWII boom in the federal government's expansion. Arlington was and is such a 'company town' where the company is the federal government of the United States. The fortunes of Northern Virginia in general rise and fall with the government's. Now during the current pandemic, the area is poised to decline, if not fall. Fortunes of congregations all over this area in flux. The pain of the last few days upon the death of George Floyd have plunged us into deeper peril as a nation.
I had chosen this date for retirement long before the current situations. I still am grateful for the opportunity to have served this small congregation, and hold onto hope for its future, only because I know who holds the future.
