Dear Friends,
I was sitting at our Mountain Sky Annual Conference meeting with our delegate, Olivia Malmberg, who was taking it in with a sense of wonder and awe, as well as practical considerations of what it meant about our life together at First Church. We are very well served by Olivia’s representation as our member of the Annual Conference!
A few weeks later, on July 1st, I finished five years of serving as the pastor of First Church.
As I look over these past five years and look to what lies ahead, I have been thinking about what we are doing and where we are going. Like Olivia, I am filled with wonder and awe and with questions about practical considerations.
I would summarize our work (from worship, to community gatherings, to education efforts, to shared work), our mission, it seems to me, is to continue to grow a culture of Christian practice, experience and learning.
To remind ourselves and one another:
1) We are similar: we share gifts and brokenness in equal and unequal measure across all boundaries.
2) We are different from each other and we glory in these differences
3) God invites us to play together and celebrate our gifts and our differences.
4) We are encouraged to grieve together and to bear each other’s burdens.
I am curious what you make of this. What is missing? What is wrong? What do you think?
While being pastor here has been a great challenge it has also been a great gift. The grace I have received during this time has been extraordinary. I can’t tell you all the lessons I’ve learned across these past five years, though many of you were witness to them, as well as teachers of those lessons. Thank you.
I am especially grateful to the leadership who was here when I stepped in here at the beginning of the pandemic and used a steady hand to guide me and to lead this congregation to the good and healthy place we are today.
I am grateful.
Keep tellin’ the Story,
Mike
By way of gratitude, I hope you enjoy this rendition of Vivaldi’s Concerto for 2 Trumpets.
This week’s takeaway: To Pastor Mike, five years into his time at First Church, our mission is to continue to grow a culture of Christian practice, experience and learning. What do you think?