Dear Church,
I am looking forward to coming back into your presence this week. It has been a long one. The first day brought the passing of Adrian V.G., and I was sick to be away from you. The next days brought questions regarding our distance away, but these worries were resolved by the grace of Christ present in you. In presence and absence, life and death, God is beside us to walk with us in peace.
It has been an enjoyable time here, and we have labored here in the classroom and in meetings, but we have also enjoyed connecting with old friends here in the Twin Cities. We have been confirmed in our ministry with you at HCC, and it is clear to us as we give testimony that God is at work in SW Michigan through each of us, together.
This week has not offered much time for reflection, but amidst the chaos insights have arisen to invite a return home. I would like to offer one of them here:
Trusting one another:
When we came one year ago, Lindsay and I knew that we were coming to you out of trust in the Lord and nothing else. It seemed like God was confused sending us away from Minnesota, and trusting God was more than difficult at that time. One year later, after participating in worship and reconnecting at Excelsior Covenant Church, we can testify that God was not confused in sending us to Michigan. Clearly, God has led us and walks beside us in our new place, and likewise with the people at Excelsior Covenant. God is worthy of our trust.
We came to HCC with a unique call. We are the first pastors in sometime to move into the HCC neighborhood, have small children, and be committed to various ecclesial entities in the larger Covenant, academic, and the ecumenical church world. I know our life stage and pace of life seems exhausting (and sometimes it is), yet we enjoy it. We find ourselves more energized in the pulpit and the fellowship of the church through our external commitments, whether the seminary classroom, writing essays and books, serving the broader Covenant, or playing with our children. We also believe that we do these external things well because of our rootedness in the congregation. You are a gift to us that allows us to hopefully be a gift to our family, the broader church, and the world. Together, we become blessed to be blessings.
Our trust in God is being mirrored in our trust in you. We hope your trust in us is growing, even as we stretch expectations and assumptions that each of us has regarding what and who the church is. If ever trust breaks, I hope we are willing to name the reality, seek and offer forgiveness, and move forward. So far, our life together has been trustworthy - for God, the trustworthy One, is leading us. May we at HCC continue to trust one antoher that God may stay the trustworthy leader of us all.
If we can covenant together to trust that you will send us away and we will return - the blessings from and to one another will overflow.
I am looking forward to coming back into your presence this week. It has been a long one. The first day brought the passing of Adrian V.G., and I was sick to be away from you. The next days brought questions regarding our distance away, but these worries were resolved by the grace of Christ present in you. In presence and absence, life and death, God is beside us to walk with us in peace.
It has been an enjoyable time here, and we have labored here in the classroom and in meetings, but we have also enjoyed connecting with old friends here in the Twin Cities. We have been confirmed in our ministry with you at HCC, and it is clear to us as we give testimony that God is at work in SW Michigan through each of us, together.
This week has not offered much time for reflection, but amidst the chaos insights have arisen to invite a return home. I would like to offer one of them here:
Trusting one another:
When we came one year ago, Lindsay and I knew that we were coming to you out of trust in the Lord and nothing else. It seemed like God was confused sending us away from Minnesota, and trusting God was more than difficult at that time. One year later, after participating in worship and reconnecting at Excelsior Covenant Church, we can testify that God was not confused in sending us to Michigan. Clearly, God has led us and walks beside us in our new place, and likewise with the people at Excelsior Covenant. God is worthy of our trust.
We came to HCC with a unique call. We are the first pastors in sometime to move into the HCC neighborhood, have small children, and be committed to various ecclesial entities in the larger Covenant, academic, and the ecumenical church world. I know our life stage and pace of life seems exhausting (and sometimes it is), yet we enjoy it. We find ourselves more energized in the pulpit and the fellowship of the church through our external commitments, whether the seminary classroom, writing essays and books, serving the broader Covenant, or playing with our children. We also believe that we do these external things well because of our rootedness in the congregation. You are a gift to us that allows us to hopefully be a gift to our family, the broader church, and the world. Together, we become blessed to be blessings.
Our trust in God is being mirrored in our trust in you. We hope your trust in us is growing, even as we stretch expectations and assumptions that each of us has regarding what and who the church is. If ever trust breaks, I hope we are willing to name the reality, seek and offer forgiveness, and move forward. So far, our life together has been trustworthy - for God, the trustworthy One, is leading us. May we at HCC continue to trust one antoher that God may stay the trustworthy leader of us all.
If we can covenant together to trust that you will send us away and we will return - the blessings from and to one another will overflow.
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