St. Martin's Cloak
The Cloak is a collection of audio vignettes—stories that reveal parishioners’ faith journeys. Share your thoughts by sending us an e-mail.
Watching Bob … is like watching a great athlete at work.
David Dieck
Bob Tate’s departure after 14 years as Rector of St. Martin’s has had a profound effect on the congregation he’s led. As former Rector’s Warden and friend, David Dieck reflects on what he imagines this new phase in their relationship will be like.
The story that I would have is the story of my reaction to watching Bob do his job in so may different ways. And my reaction over the years is almost like that of somebody watching a great athlete at work. Because Bob does so many things so well – lately, especially, as he’s realized that he’s moving to a different place in his life his sermons have had even more depth for me, and I’ve just sort of watched him as a fan in the stands, saying, “Man, he has got a great swing!” Every thought is like another ball going over the fence.
And I’ve felt that so many ways when we would handle difficult decisions at Vestry meetings where he was able to take various side of an issue and bring them together and brings us together and sort of make everything come into focus just with a real deftness and a skill. And then on top of that when we had to deal with money issues or very mundane issues that weren’t even spiritual. He could dissect a spreadsheet with the very best of them. There wasn’t any aspect of his game that wasn’t “A.” That’s the sense I have of him. That’s what I’ll miss.
We’ll have somebody come here and be our new rector and provide spiritual leadership. But I certainly have never seen anybody who could preach and teach and manage and lead and do all of it so well and make it look, not effortless, but just really skilled.
I’ve had sort of a unique privilege in being the Rector’s Warden. Part of the job of being the Rector’s Warden is to be the warden for the rector, in other words to be able to work with him as to how he leads spiritually and to be an ear for him in dealing with his particular challenges or troubles or difficulties with his ministry.
So I have been privy to certain concerns that he has had that he hasn’t been able to share with anybody else. That will change because he won’t have those; he won’t have the burden of being the pastor to this flock that he has had through all of our friendship so far. I will continue to be able to be the foil, sort of the lighthearted guy in the straight man relationship that he’s played.
But he’ll also be able to just be Bob.