Dear Friends,
I am new to Boulder and new to First Church, so this may sound strange for the newcomer to say, but I want to say this to you:
I really miss standing in the sanctuary with you, lifting our voices in praise and joy, standing near one another, near enough to feel the warmth of the other person.
I really miss physically getting to meet the people of this congregation…this congregation I am just getting to know virtually. I feel the ache of this. The longing for this.
And yet, there is nothing that is more important to me as pastor then making certain that the people of this parish are, in every way possible, safe. And though I do not know you well, this matters most to me.
The longing I have heard from you, the longing I feel–to gather in the sanctuary for worship again, to visit with each other, to meet each other, to hug each other at the peace and afterwards in the coffee hour–would not be smart, would not be safe.
Paul talks about one of the gifts of the spirit being patience. I have felt for a long time that this does not mean liking the wait, but enduring the wait. And so it feels to me now. We wait with longing and anticipation for a time when we will gather together again. Safely and well.
What I want to say to you this Tuesday afternoon is that we WILL have this feeling again. In all its fullness and wonder. It will still be awhile. And I imagine, a long while. And while we wait, we are in God’s heart, in God’s hands, in God’s love and justice. And we belong to one another.
Keep tellin’ the Story,
Michael Mather
#FirstChurchwebelongtooneanother
Rev. Michael Mather has been the Pastor of First United Methodist Church of Boulder since July 2020. CLICK HERE to send him an email.