May 2023

For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.

– Matthew 18:20

Stepping away is hard for me. As much as I know I will value and appreciate the eight weeks of parental leave, I also know I will be missing all of you. In confirmation, one of our students asked what I love most about being a pastor, and I said the best part is just getting to be with all of you. What I love most is that you trust me to be there with you in the really good moments and in the really hard moments. I get to bear witness to your joys and worries, and hold you in prayer. The best part of being a pastor is being with you!

But I am trusting that, even though I am away for these eight weeks, God is still with you. You don’t need a pastor here in order to know God is with you. Jesus doesn’t say “For where two or three are gathered with a pastor….” He simply says, “Where two or three are gathered.”

We always say that while I am the preacher, you are all the ministers. You all have been with one another far longer than I have been with you. God was with you then, and God is still with you now, and God will continue to be with us after I return in a few months!

We can hold this same truth with us throughout our lives. In our scriptures, God tells us, “I am with you” hundreds of times. The exact phrase, “Do not be afraid, I am with you” is repeated over and over again. God is with us wherever we go. There is no place we could turn, no depth of depression or anxiety we find ourselves in, no amount of drowning grief we are feeling, or darkness that surrounds us, where God’s light cannot still touch us. God is there. Always faithful.

Thank you for the ways you are showing up for one another during my time away - I trust you will pray for one another, minister to one another, and take care of each other. You truly are the hands and feet of Christ, and God is alive among you.

With grace,

Pastor Kelsey