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Venturing Out into New Territory My time with you, the people of Our Savior's Lutheran church, is at an end. As I am writing this, the Call Committee is getting closer to presenting a pastor's name for you to consider. I hope things go well with you in that process. The interim process that I'm trained for expects that I be gone before the new pastor arrives, that there be as much as a month of time in between. That is very important because it gives a little breather time in between to let go of one thing and get ready for another. I recognize that the type of interim we have done together is rather new and different. I am also aware that some have felt that the call process should have started sooner or that you should have moved immediately into the call process so you could get on with things. However, experience by many people in the church has shown that seldom does that work well, especially when a pastor has been in a congregation for a fairly long time, in the most recent case, 9 years. Pastor and congregation, congregation and pastor, is about relationships. Relationships, as we all know, are about investment in one another. Relationships are about intangible things, like the pleasure of seeing a person, being able to talk to that person, the kinds of things that person brings just by being in the same place that we are. When that person leaves, intellectually in our minds, we know that the person is gone, but on another level, deep inside of use, sometimes we're not even aware of it, the missing is still there and can gnaw on us for a long time. It is not so easily done to move from one pastor and pastoral leadership quickly. We need to take the time necessary to savor the past even while we get ready for what is to come. Because it's a relationship, it takes time. If a spouse died on Tuesday, the surviving spouse normally does not begin dating on the next weekend. There are things to deal with and issues to face. Or it's like paint on the house that is blistering and peeling. We don't just paint over it without scraping and removing the old paint and then priming it, if it's wood. An interim is a time to scrape and prime. We have done that as well as each of us could have, I think. There have been bumps; we've done some tripping and stumbling. That goes with the territory. But it has also been good. You are good people. God has blessed you richly, but I would encourage you to continue to dig and get to know one another better and dig for the Spirit-given gifts that are here. You are venturing out again, this time into new territory. It would be nice it if were all familiar, but it's not. The territory is new, even while it seems to be the same. This new stepping out will mean a new vision, a new dram, a new sense of where you want to go from here. I am excited for you in the directions you are beginning to find for yourselves. I wish you well and God's abundant blessings. I will continue to have you in my prayers and hear from afar how you are doing. I will expect great things because you are capable to them. After all, God has blessed and gifted you with all the things you need to accomplish the ministry god wants you to be bout. Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you. (Philippians 4:8-9) I want to say thanks to all of you for this opportunity to have been among you. I especially want to thank those of you who helped to "furnish" the parsonage while I've been here. It was a great boon, a great help. The time was short, but I have appreciated the ways in which many of you have helped my stay here to be a good one. thank you all very much. Blessings, |
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