2025 Retirees honored for 604 years of service
By Alison Burdett
Tuesday afternoon, the clergy retiree class of 2025 gathered for lunch at the Hilton Hotel, to be celebrated and honored for their combined 604 years of service.
Keynote speaker, Shelley Hawkins, offered words of gratitude, referencing Philippians 4:4-9: “Rejoice in the Lord Always. Again, I say rejoice.”
Hawkins stood in front of the retirees as they enter a new season of life. She, too, is also entering a new season as she will be commissioned as a provisional elder this Thursday evening.
She encouraged the retirees to continue to lean not on their own understanding but, in all their ways, keep seeking God, “because God still has plans for you.”
Hawkins shared, “Retirement is not the end of your ministry, it’s just a shift in the atmosphere.” She reminded those in attendance that when Paul wrote those five words, “rejoice in the Lord always,” he himself had a shift in his atmosphere: he was in jail. And as he sat in a jail cell, he found Joy in the Lord.
“Paul knew his joy was not rooted in his condition, but in the presence of the Lord,” Hawkins said. Aware that some seasons seem to last longer than others, she said it is important to note that Paul said it twice, “‘Again, I say rejoice,’” she said. “When your road has not been easy, or your back had been against the wall, God kept you, and allowed you to remain steadfast and unmovable, impacting the lives of so many others. Because the joy of the Lord allowed you to transfer your sorrows into stories.”
She reminded the retirees that they didn’t just pass along information, but they were an example of how to navigate life’s challenges, inspiring so many others, including herself.
Hawkins, a retired educator herself, thanked God for each retiree’s legacy through the ABCs:
“Thank you,” she said, for:
A: Accepting Jesus Christ into your life and allowing God to use you:
B: Believing in the word of God;
C: Committing to a life of service as you care for others;
D: Demonstrating dedication and dependability;
E: Exhibiting;
F: Faithfulness;
G: Glorifying God and giving grace to others;
H: maintaining Hopefulness;
I: upholding Integrity;
J: experiencing Joy;
K: extending Kindness to others;
L: Loving the unlovable;
M: a Ministry Mindset;
N: Never Never Never Never quitting;
O: Openness to new ideas;
P: living a life of Prayer and Patience;
Q: being Quick to listen, slow to speak;
R: exercising Resilience;
S: being Spiritual and for being Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious;
T: Trusting in the Lord;
U: demonstrating Unwavering faith;
V: becoming a Visionary leader;
W: having Wisdom;
X: Xeroxing your own programs in the copy room;
Y: Yielding to the Holy Spirit; and
Z: being Zealous.
Among those honored were two current District Superintendents, the Revs. Wanda Bynam Duckett and Ann Laprade, serving the Baltimore Metro and Baltimore Suburban districts, respectively.
Affectionately called “the twins,” Bishop Easterling shared what each is looking forward to in retirement. Laprade is looking forward to deepening her Thai Chi skills and relearning to play piano. Duckett, who has adopted the term, “reWirement,” is looking forward to coaching, preaching, poetry writing, traveling, thrifting, and staycationing. Bishop Easterling celebrated them for the times they have entered into meetings where they knew there was going to be conflict, with their heads held high. She celebrated the way they championed their district’s causes at the Cabinet table and their immense creativity and the way they brought vision when others thought there was only chaos.
Bishop Easterling shared that she is grateful for all that they have poured into the Baltimore-Washington Conference and into the Cabinet, and she wished them exceeding joy in their time of “reWirement.”