“Oh give thanks to the Lord for he is good!
For his mercy endures forever!” (Psalm 136)
Dear brothers and sisters of St. John’s,
I am so thankful to God that he is bringing us together, and
Stephanie, Matthias, and I are eagerly looking forward to beginning our life
among you. We are in the midst of the
final details of packing for our move next week, and I am excited as I
anticipate our first Sunday together as priest and people, April 3. Please pray for us as a family as we prepare
to complete this transition to our new life, and know that we have been and
continue to be praying for you as we get ready to move.
We will get to know each other well over the next few years,
but perhaps a few details about me will help you to get to know me. I grew up in Geneseo, New York, where I was
active at St. Michael’s Episcopal Church. During my late high school and early college years, I fell away from
church. But 1973, a dear friend witnessed to his
new-found faith in Jesus, and something about his story caused the Holy Spirit
to stir in my heart, and I sensed Jesus inviting me to trust him and be his
disciple. I said “yes” to his
invitation to walk with him in a loving relationship and life hasn’t been the
same since. I began to sense a call to
be a pastor, and rediscovered the Episcopal Church, came to the Diocese of
Albany (how that happened is a long story I will save for later). I was ordained to the priesthood in 1983 by
Bishop Hogg.
My first parishes were in Greenwich and Salem, New York, and
then I was called to St. Stephen’s in Delmar, and served there for twenty
years. I met my wife Stephanie while I
was there and we were married in 1999. We were blessed in 2003 with a son, whom we named Matthias because the
name means “gift from God,” which he certainly is. In 2008 I accepted a call to be
priest-in-charge at St. David’s, Agawam, Massachusetts, and after two years
realized I was being called out of that parish and we began a process of
listening and watching for the next step of God’s call to us. And here we are today, preparing to move to
Delhi, a community and a parish that both Stephanie and I have been
well-acquainted with for many years (another long story – more to come!). God is very good – and we can’t begin to
tell you how grateful we are as we look ahead to becoming part of your parish
family.
I want to thank our very capable Vestry, and especially
Senior Warden Scotty Gladstone, for doing a very thorough and well-organized
search for a new rector. I also want to
express my gratitude to our dear Deacon Nancy for her hard work over the years
and especially during the interim period after Father Dave moved on. You are blessed with strong and devoted
leaders, and I look forward to all of us becoming a team of disciples working
to build the kingdom of God.
With love and blessings, in Jesus,
Fr. Darius Mojallali
