A New Chapter Begins at St. Andrew’s On-the-Sound
Celebrating the New Ministry of
The Reverend Dr. William J. “BJ” Buracker II
On September 16, 2026, St. Andrew’s On-the-Sound gathered with clergy, family, friends, and members of the wider Church for a Celebration of New Ministry with The Reverend Dr. William J. “BJ” Buracker II.
There was much to celebrate. A new rector. A new relationship. A new chapter in the more than 100-year story of this parish.
But perhaps the deeper invitation of the evening was to recognize that beginnings are not simply about arriving somewhere new. They are about becoming something new together.
The Rt. Rev. Sarah K. Fisher, Ninth Bishop of East Carolina, captured this beautifully in her homily:
“It’s not a moment of arrival. It’s a moment of departure.”
That distinction matters.
After a season of transition and discernment, it might be tempting to think the journey is finished. The search is over. The new rector is here. We have arrived.
But the Christian life rarely works that way. Again and again, God meets us precisely where we are and then invites us to keep moving.
Bishop Sarah reminded us that St. Andrew’s is now stepping together into a new season, leaving behind what has been while remaining open to what God is bringing into being. Drawing on the Feast of St. Ninian, she offered two seemingly different qualities for that journey: zeal and patience.
We need both.
Zeal gives us the courage to move, to imagine, to serve, and to say yes. Patience reminds us that God's work unfolds in God's time. We do not have to know exactly what this new chapter will become before we begin living it.
A Ministry We Share
Bishop Sarah drew our attention to Moses and the seventy elders, a story in which leadership becomes shared. What had rested heavily upon one person becomes the work of a community, animated by the same Spirit.
That is an important image for this moment at St. Andrew’s.
Fr. BJ has been called to serve among us as rector, but the ministry of St. Andrew’s does not belong to him alone. It never has. Ministry belongs to the whole Church.
Our Book of Common Prayer reflects this understanding, describing worship as the work of the entire Christian assembly, with lay persons, bishops, priests, and deacons each participating according to their calling.
Perhaps that is one of the gifts of a Celebration of New Ministry. It reminds us not simply who our new rector is, but who we are together.
Love One Another
And then Bishop Sarah brought us back to the heart of it all.
“Love one another as I have loved you.”
We can make church complicated. We can talk about programs, budgets, buildings, attendance, committees, and plans for the future. All of those things have their place.
But beneath them is something much simpler and much more demanding: learning to love as Christ loves.
That love will not always be tidy. As Bishop Sarah reminded us, it will be “imperfect and messy, graceful and beautiful.” We will try. We will sometimes fail. We will forgive one another and begin again.
And perhaps that is how a parish becomes more fully the Body of Christ. Not by getting everything right, but by returning again and again to love.
“Together, people and priest, church and rector, filled with patience and zeal, you are empowered to make this world a little bit brighter, a little bit kinder, and a little bit more reflective of God’s dream.”
September 16 was a celebration of Fr. BJ and the Buracker family, and we are deeply grateful they are here.
But it was also a celebration of something still unfolding.
God is already at work among us. Our task is to listen, to love one another, and to have the courage to follow where God leads next.
So perhaps we have not arrived after all.
Perhaps we are just beginning.
Enjoy the gallery below and watch the service as we give thanks for this joyful evening and the first steps of a new chapter together.
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