By Pastor David Hahn
I cannot believe that it has been nearly a year and a half of being together with you. I was just commenting the other day to someone about how things have changed since my beginning first few weeks with you the summer of June 2022. I remember the slow and challenging return to the sanctuary. I remember the wrestling that so many were doing trying to figure out what this new normal would be, as church, and in this newly renovated sanctuary. Things were not as they used to be – ‘we weren’t in Kansas anymore’. Post-Covid itself was a slog, and many were suspicious, if not skeptical of what flourishing in this new norm would become.
What I have seen is a community faithful to the ministry of Jesus, in all its dimensions. I have witnessed you working through losses and longings—losses for things not being as you once knew them to be, and longings for new leadership to partner with you in your core convictions to have strong faith formation, and to be a social justice, public ministry church.
The faithfulness includes your continued attendance at worship and adult forums; the transition team call committee; the executive and council leadership teams tirelessly forging ahead with amazing commitment to this church; and not least, your amazing staff who gives in ways above and beyond what you do not always realize.
What I see is a people who love this church, and who long to love Jesus faithfully. I have even seen new faces and met new people starting to attend this church who have only become connected to it post-Covid.
This gives me hope. I hope you can see it too. I hope you can feel it, as I do. There is a lot of energy here, and an amazing commitment to and love of Jesus in this place. As you near the next stage of your ministry, with new pastoral leadership coming soon, I pray and trust that you will continue to hold on to being this people God has created you to be in this place and as I see you to be.
You are people who love worship and care deeply for a quality worship experience. You are a people who care for your young people, and for passing along faith to the next generation. You are a people who are very thoughtful and long to learn more about Jesus, faith and Scripture. You are a people who have a heart for the world-the environment, social justice, and for helping to heal the inequities that continue to exist in our community.
God has begun a great work in you, and you will continue this, through the Spirit, with your next partner in ministry. So trust this–you are doing great and amazing ministry; you have wonderfully gifted, and thoughtful ministers, not just volunteers, among you. And for that, I give thanks to God for this new year, and what the future holds.