October2007RedeemerReview - page 1 of 9

Redeemer Review

The Episcopal Church of the Redeemer

September 23, 2007

Dear Redeemer family,

Greetings! My name is Steve Hassett and I’m the new interim vicar at the Church of the Redeemer. I’ve had the

pleasure of meeting many of you in the past couple of weeks, and look forward to meeting the rest of you and

getting to know you all better in the coming months.

In that time there will be plenty of opportunity to get to know me and my family, too, but for the now, here’s a

little bit about us: My wife’s name is Clancy Drake, and we’ve been married for five years. We have two boys,

Elijah, three-and-a-half, and Declan, eight months. As you can imagine, Clancy and I have plenty of free time

and are able to sleep in as late as we like every day, and our house is always immaculate and we enjoy spacious

and uninterrupted conversation at mealtimes. (Would I lie?) Clancy works as a book editor at a press in

Berkeley called Ten Speed (if you like to cook you probably have some of their cookbooks).

In terms of my churchy history, I came into the Episcopal Church about ten years ago, through the church of St

Gregory of Nyssa in San Francisco. I attended seminary at the Church Divinity School of the Pacific, in Berke-

ley, and was ordained in 2006, first as a deacon under Bishop Swing, and then as a priest under Bishop Marc.

There’s lots more I could tell you about the bliss that is my life, but I’d like to dive right in and offer a little

theological reflection. (It is my training, after all.) My arrival here represents a sudden and, in some ways,

unexpected change in the leadership at Redeemer. I’m aware that sudden change is not everyone’s favorite

mode, and there are good reasons for that. The unknown is, well, unknown, and that can be unsettling. It’s part

of our nature to want to know what’s going to happen next, so we can feel prepared and ready for whatever God

might have in store for us.

For my part, I am fairly certain that God will never give us that luxury, and instead calls us to a life lived in faith

which is to say, trusting in God despite not knowing what the next day, or month, or year will hold. God’s

promise to us is faithfulness — “I am with you, even to the end of time” Jesus said — and so our response to

God must be one of faithfulness, too: trusting that our lives have purpose and meaning, and that there is no

change or disruption big enough to alter the fundamental reality of our lives: We are created in God’s image,

and are called by name to share in the abundance of love that God has for all Creation.

So, I’m delighted to be here, and feel well received by everyone, and am eager to say that I have absolutely no

idea what will happen in my time at Redeemer. But by working together, trusting and listening to one another

and to God, we can come to a place of following God’s plan for this community, even if we don’t know how it

will all turn out. (Although we can rely on the wisdom of our teachers, including Teresa of Avila, who said “All

will be well.”)

If you’re looking to connect with me, you can always come to church (I’m there every Sunday), or you can stop

by the office Mondays through Thursdays. You’ll know I’m in if you see that the doors are open — please stop

by if you have time. If you’d like to make an appointment, just call the church (456-0508) or email me at

revsteve@redeemermarin.org. If you need to reach me urgently, you can call my cell phone, which is

See you in church!

Peace, Fr. Steve