The pipe organ played, the congregation sang and, for the last time on Christmas morning, a retiring minister put on his black robe and blue stole.

"This will be a simple service," the Rev. Tom Oxtoby told the congregation at Westminster Presbyterian Church. "Lots of Christmas carols."

Oxtoby, 61, started preaching in 1975, in the small ski resort town of Ellicottville, N.Y. Following an installment in Erie, Pa., and a post with the presbytery in Detroit, he has for the past 25 years been traveling, serving as an interim pastor for more than a dozen churches in four states.

His arrival at Westminster, in late 2009, came after controversy in which the presbytery of Sacramento intervened in the church's administration and the Rev. David Thompson resigned. Two years later, the church has selected a new pastor: The Rev. Wes Nordman starts next month.

For Oxtoby, his final sermon before retirement was a brief reflection on Howard Thurman's famous poem about the work of Christmas.

"To find the lost, to heal the broken," Oxtoby quoted from the poem, "to bring peace among brothers, to make music in the heart."

There were perhaps 100 people in the sanctuary. Throats cleared and a cough drop was unwrapped, a baby played with a program.

The crowd stood to sing, and a young couple who had not been to Westminster before shared a hymnal in the back. Their family was coming over for prime rib that afternoon, said Jenny Cook, of West Sacramento, but she and her husband, Tim, first wanted to be in church.

"We talk about keeping Christmas all through the year," Oxtoby said. "Christmas does involve work."

Oxtoby's wife, Shirley Fleming-Oxtoby, a retired corporate flight attendant, was in the audience.

So was Phil Stohr, a member of the church for more than 50 years. In a difficult time, Stohr said, Oxtoby was "our friend."

"He just quietly went about the businesslike task of helping us get our feet back on the ground," Stohr said.

Up front, Oxtoby held out his hands and delivered the benediction.

"Now let us go out into the world in peace," he said, "having courage, holding fast to what is good."

Then he strode down the aisle as the congregation started once again to sing.

There were handshakes and hugs as everyone filed out. A social hour would follow.

After that, Oxtoby and his wife planned to pack up his office and his apartment, and he will move back to their home outside Detroit.

He was unsentimental.

"It's been good," Oxtoby said, "but I'm ready to move on."

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Call David Siders, Bee Capitol Bureau, (916) 321-1215. Follow him on Twitter @davidsiders.

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