Welcome our interim dean, the Rev. Dr. David C. Cobb who joins us January 16, 2024. He will serve the Cathedral on a part-time basis: Sundays and other major feast days, Mondays, and Wednesdays.
We asked him to introduce himself to the Cathedral community.
Tell us about yourself, where you have served in the Church, and something about your family.
My wife, Ruth, and I have been coming for decades to Siesta Key, where her family had a rental condo. When we retired from Sewanee, we found a lovely place in south Sarasota, steps from Roberts Bay and not far from downtown. Since I was born in Mobile, AL, the Gulf feels like home in many ways.
My first Sunday as a student at Seabury-Western Theological Seminary in Evanston, IL, I met Ruth at St. Luke’s Church, and we were married there a bit more than a year later. I was sponsored by the Diocese of Alabama for ordination, and my first call was as curate of St. Paul’s, Selma, as well as deacon-in-charge at St. Paul’s, Carlowville (an area the Becoming Beloved Community pilgrimage will visit in April).
Since then I have served parishes in Chicago and in Baltimore, with my longest tenure at Christ Church, New Haven. There, as here, there was a focus on excellence in church music along with active engagement in the city. More than 150 people were fed five days a week and the parish sponsored an Episcopal Service Corps program that had young people actively involved in mission settings in the city, engaged in theological study, and participating in daily Morning Prayer, weekday Eucharists, and the Sunday liturgies.
Ruth and I have three adult children, all married, and we have five wonderful grandchildren. Ruth is the interim organist/choirmaster at St. Thomas’ on Snell Isle.
What appealed to you about the prospect of becoming our interim dean?
Almost all my calls were to parishes in city settings, and most of them had a particular call or charism that motivated their life and work. As a Cathedral, St. Peter’s has a responsibility to the larger Church and, with its resources and setting, a responsibility and opportunity in St. Petersburg. While my time with you will be limited, it will be fascinating and inspiring to see how you have lived out that call and to think and pray with you about what might be next.
While there’s a lot to be said for retirement (kayaking whenever the weather’s good is one thing!), I do find that preaching is, at the least, a source of my own spiritual growth and that working with colleagues to plan and carry out parish life is enlivening. After working with seminarians on how parishes function and how to approach parish ministry, I continue to be fascinated with how the Gospel is lived out in real time in congregations. I look forward to getting to know this place and this community, and to learn more about discipleship with each of you.
People are sure to ask you -- they've been asking us!: What does an interim dean do?
To start with, there is the work that is at the heart of priestly ministry: leading the people of God in celebrating the sacraments, preaching the Gospel, and leadership in the community that encourages witness and service.
As interim, a key concern will always be what needs to be done now so that the new dean has as good a beginning as possible. A few things fall under that rubric: dealing with practical concerns (no new incumbent wants to repair roofs or decide who is a voting member), encouraging conversations that let anxiety give way to hope, and supporting the clergy and support staff to continue good work and to imagine what might be next.
A common question is how much change an interim should bring. However any transition in leadership is handled, change suddenly becomes apparent. Sunday morning probably looks and sounds different, sometimes old questions re-emerge while new possibilities are discussed. The truth is that change is a constant. Often it is just not noticed, and sometimes communities work hard to pretend it’s not there. Interims don’t bring change and long tenures don’t fence it out. What can happen now is that leadership and the larger community can ask questions, take a reading of our larger setting, and, with prayer and reflection, consider how to make change intentional.
What can we expect to see you doing in your first few weeks at St. Peter's?
Obviously, I look forward to sharing in leading Sunday worship and preaching along with your clergy and lay leadership. One concern will be listening to the clergy and support staff to understand their sense of the congregation’s ministry and how an interim dean can support them in their work, and doing much the same with the Chapter. Whatever position a new clergy takes up requires that one arrives with some sense of the work that needs to be done, but a key part of that is understanding what is needed in this moment and in this place. That requires being attentive and listening.
How can we make you feel welcome and introduce you to the Cathedral?
One real practical help is to remind me of your name! I’ll try to get names, faces, and stories together, but I will count on your patience. Please do wear your name tags. More seriously, I look forward to as many chances as possible to hear small groups or individuals talk about their experience of life here at the Cathedral and their thoughts about where God’s call might lead in the months and years ahead.
One final point here: In a transition — and actually at any time — it is, as the saying goes, “meet and right” to assume the best of others and to be patient with shifts and changes, and if something troubles you, ask yourself why that might be. I will be ready to talk with you directly. If it's troubling or disappointing, I’m probably the person who needs to hear it.
What do you do when you're off duty? Sports, hobbies, fun? What do you watch/listen to? What makes a good day off for you?
I enjoy cooking and have come to really value time on my kayak. Ruth and I both enjoy concerts, more likely a quartet than a symphony, and I tend to listen to Baroque or other early music. Reading is a favorite pastime. Right now I am working on a great history of King Oswald. Listening to the British History Podcast (thebritishhistorypodcast.com) has really spiked my interest in the Anglo-Saxon era of British history.
Dream trip/bucket list items?
We do have a good trip planned for this coming summer: We will be spending time in the northwest of England and on a small island off Oban in Scotland. From the trips we have made, we always enjoy smaller towns and villages. Big cities often feel similar, while smaller communities have more of a local feel.
Please share a favorite Bible story that has shaped your ministry.
There are two passages that I really hold dear. First, the Prologue to John’s Gospel: “The word was made flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth … and from his fullness have we all received, grace upon grace.” The affirmation that God’s Word was and is present and has found a place with us brings the fullness of heaven into the particular, time-limited reality.
Along with that, my middle name shows up in Luke 24:18: One of the dejected disciples walking to Emmaus after the passion and crucifixion was named Cleopas. For reasons I never heard, my grandparents gave that name to my father, and I was named after him. Along with the name, there is the patience and the challenge of the Risen Lord, who listens to their griefs and doubts and points them towards the truth, and then the abounding joy of that moment when the Risen Christ is known, in Scripture and the breaking of bread. So there is the hope of the light that shines and the darkness has not overcome it, and the burning hearts of disciples who learn the truth that Christ is risen and present for them.