PJ’s Page –
I’m not a fan of scary movies, but in the words of the famous line from “The Shining”….I’m Baaaaack! I don’t know that I have the capacity just yet to adequately express to you my deep, deep gratitude for this time of sabbatical. Although I know that Pastor Hoffman was a joy and delight to have around, it was no small thing to let “your” pastor leave for four months. I promise not to fill my sermons with sabbatical stories, but I also want to share with you, as I can, some of the ways I was touched and challenged and blessed and stretched during this time. But for now, mostly what I want to say is: “It’s so good to be here.”
In last month’s Messenger I shared with you this quote by the Quaker theologian Parker Palmer: “You always have to find hope out of the corner of your eye.” This month I share a second reflection from Palmer. He said:
“Solitude and community are the two things you need to keep hope alive.”
I was intentional during my sabbatical to keep times, in fact days at a time, of solitude. I didn’t listen to the news or even much music during those solitary sojourns. Instead I found myself clarifying who I was as God’s beloved child and what exactly it was that God desired from me and for me. I found that in solitude I could pour out my heart to God….my frustrations, my fears, my joys and my delights, my sorrows and my sadness. I could just lay them all right out there without fear of being judged or ridiculed or ignored. Because it was just God and me, I was somehow very sure that God was and is present.
Of course, the greater reality is that I cannot live in that solitude. None of us can. We all need community in order to live out who we are and what God desires from us and for us. We find community in many places….in our neighborhoods or at the local diner or among our friends or in our clubs or lodges or schools. But the gift of a Christian community, of a congregation, is that this is the place where we are known and loved and held as Christ knows and loves and holds us. A community of faith can walk with us in times of trial and can rejoice with us in times of gladness. And a community of faith walks with us in Gospel centered hope. The Rotary club doesn’t do that (although Rotary is a FINE organization.)
This is one of the reasons I am so grateful for this community of faith. We get to live out with one another the hope we have in Jesus. Oh, we will let one another down. I will let you down. Yes, even your well rested, very grateful pastor will disappoint you and we will disappoint one another. But we are bound together in the fabric of our community by the love of God, known to the world in Jesus, and living in us through the Holy Spirit.
Yes, it’s wonderful to be back! I’m so glad to see you! I missed you! And I serve as your pastor with gratitude and faith and…
With great hope,
Pastor Julie+