temptation...

It is clear to me that my Place is at my current parish for now, and (Lord willing) the next couple of years and probably quite a bit more. The parish is preparing to go into an interim period, and it is absolutely clear to me that I must help see them through it.

Further, my sense of the Spirit's leadership has been clear for quite a few years that this is my last full-time church position, for reasons known to God alone. I have paid no attention whatsoever to "positions available" listings in the organists' monthly journal. No matter what position might open up, I am Not Interested.

So what should come through my e-mail box today (via the RSCM newsletter) but this, perhaps the only church in the world in which I would be interested?

R. E. Lee Memorial Church, Episcopal, in Lexington, Virginia, invites applications for the position of full-time Director of Music.

This is Mr. Lee's church. I prayed there last summer [July 24, 2011] and his spirit is strong there, in some ways stronger in this church where he was Senior Warden than across the green in the Lee Chapel at his old office and burial place. Quite aside from all that, it is work for which I would be qualified, though handbells are important there and I have not dealt with them for the last twelve years (I have strong handbell experience for the twenty-odd years prior to that). It is an RSCM-affiliated parish with strong choral programs for children and adults. Their current pipe organ is not very good, but they are looking to replace it.

And it is in Virginia. Not just that, but my beloved Valley of Virginia. It is less than a two hour's drive from our old Farm in the hill country. We could put up a little vacation cottage there...

But it is not for me. For one thing, I am interested in it for the wrong reasons; the history of the place would blind me to the reality of the present. It would be like returning to work in the town where I grew up. And it would be entirely unsuitable for my wife, a thoroughgoing Midwesterner.

Why am I musing about this in a public venue? It guarantees that I will not succumb to temptation and send a resume off to Lexington.

Mr. Lee was offered a very attractive position which he refused because his Duty did not lie there. I can best honor him by doing the same. But I will say a prayer that they find a person suitable for the position and that God will bless them all in their ministry in that sleepy old college town.