The Rev. Jared C. Cramer is St. John's new Rector!  

Jared and Bethany will join the people of St. John's on June 28, 2010.

The Story of Three Pictures, or,
How God Called Us to St. John's

Bethany and I met during the time I spent living in Middle Tennessee. I had grown up in the Churches of Christ (a cappella) and my Master of Divinity degree was from Abilene Christian University in Texas. In Michigan, the Churches of Christ were a small group, but they were large in West Texas. As I studied church history and theology in seminary, I felt a profound pull towards an approach to Christianity that had deeper and more ancient roots than that with which I was raised. I found that in the Episcopal Church... and more. In the Episcopal Church I also found an insistence that we must listen for God's Spirit still active today. And so, though I had traveled to West Texas to be surrounded by the church of my childhood, I entered the strange stone church in Abilene and told the rector there that I believed God was calling me to the Episcopal Church. He said the bishop was coming in May, that gave us about 8 months, and that he thought that'd be enough time to discern whether that calling was true.

This was my introduction to listening for God.

The calling turned out to be true, and close on the heels of my confirmation I began discernment to the priesthood. With the help of my parish community, that calling also became clear. So, with my Master of Divinity in hand, I packed my dog and all of my possessions in a Ryder truck and journeyed to "The Mountain" to soak in as much Anglicanism as I could atop that Cumberland Plateau in Sewanee, TN. My focus was on my school and the formation I needed for the priesthood. A friend I had studied with in Abilene lived in Nashville, and so I went up one weekend to spend time with him and some of his Nashville friends. That was when I met Bethany. I was, quite frankly, smitten. We were engaged after six months and married in November of 2008. At the same time, I did indeed soak in Anglicanism. I wrote a thesis on Michael Ramsey, the 100th Archbishop of Canterbury. Bethany and I split our time between the Cathedral in Nashville and the small parish in Sewanee known as Otey. We developed friends in both places, and found the spirituality of each engaging in its own way. Originally, we intended to move to Nashville when I was ordained, but God had other plans.

No paths seemed to open in Nashville. And yet, shortly after that closure became clear, I received a call to Historic Christ Church in Alexandria, VA. After prayer and discernment, Bethany and I decided this was where we should go and so we journeyed to that program where I began work in the parish's Lilly Endowed Foundations for Spiritual Leadership program. The goal of FSL was to give a broader and deeper experience to clergy in their first years of ministry and our time in the Washington, DC metro area has been wonderful. After having spent years working in graphic design, Bethany found a position as an assistant administrator at an Episcopal parish in Arlington, VA known as St. Mary's. We settled into married life. A new Episcopalian, Bethany formed friendships through her confirmation class at Christ Church. In addition to my work at Christ Church, I became active on the steering committee for the Alexandria Interfaith Association, was invited to serve as an honorary assistant at St. Paul's, K Street, an historic Anglo-Catholic parish in Washington, DC, and also was on the forming committee for a new society for Anglo-Catholic clergy known as the Society of Catholic Priests (http://www.theSCP.org). At the Inaugural Assembly, the newly formed Society elected me to their Provincial Council where I serve as the Treasurer to the Society. Though we are less than a year old, our numbers are already over 150 clergy from across the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Canada.

Which, I suppose, almost begins to bring me to these three pictures on the website.

Bethany and I still had our eye on Nashville, but when I saw that the Episcopal parish in my hometown of Grand Haven was receiving names for their next rector, I was intrigued. I looked at your parish website, talked to clergy I knew in Michigan, carefully reflected on the parish profile, and submitted my name to the Diocese of Western Michigan as a potential candidate. I was impressed by Father Idema's long tenure, moved by the parish's apparent commitment to those on the margins of our society, and drawn to the people I read about in the parish profile. I didn't know if there was a call for me in Grand Haven, but it was clear that I needed to listen.

And so I listened.

Bethany and I both listened.

We talked and prayed. I wrote interview questions and engaged in a lively video discussion. I had a memorable experience with three members of your parish, as they visited Bethany and I in Alexandria. Throughout the process, I felt increasingly drawn to be a part of God's work in your community. My southern wife, born and raised in Nashville, also felt a pull to the community at St. John's (northern and snowy though it may be!). Meeting the rest of the search committee and the vestry, along with touring your parish, made our sense of call to St. John's more certain.

And then we heard the call. Your Senior Warden, Gillian Edwards, called me on the phone and issued what the parish had discerned as God's calling for you: that I be your next rector. Bethany and I had already discussed this moment, and so I excitedly expressed my desire to accept the call. And, after all the specifics were worked out, it was my profound pleasure to write my letter of acceptance.

But the pictures, I keep needing to come back to the pictures.

The lower two pictures are reflective of my current cure at Christ Church. The one with me in a linen suit is taken outside the Historic Church where I currently serve. The one where I'm not wearing my jacket is in front of a paddle-boat on the Potomac. We're clearly happy with our place in life. The picture at the top of the page, however, was taken particularly for you.

Gill had asked me for some pictures. I wanted to send a new one, and so spent an hour or so with Bethany trying to get one that would work. We had a few different people take pictures, but none of them seemed right (and several seemed terrible). Finally, annoyed at our apparent complete lack of photogenic qualities, Bethany suggested I just hold out the camera and take it myself. And so we both thought of our impending move to West Michigan and I clicked the button on the camera... and there you have it: a slightly too close picture of your next rector alongside his much better looking wife.

We know there are still five months before we come to live among you. There are still five months for planning and preparing. There are still five months for saying thank-you to Father Laycock for the excellent work I've heard he's done. There are still five months for wondering and waiting. And there are five whole months for praying, for spending a few moments in silence each week and listening for God's voice, for listening for what God has in store for the family of God at St. John's and the community of the Grand Haven area. Five whole months for praying and listening.

That might be enough.

My beloved new family, the discernment is not over. And your prayers over these next months of discernment and transition are as integral as ever. Because before you know it, five months will have passed. And we'll gather together for Holy Eucharist as our time together begins in earnest. God has done and is doing wonderful and amazing things in your community. Bethany and I can hardly wait to come and be a part of listening with you for what God wants to do with you tomorrow.

Your Next Rector,
Jared+