January 2023 Pastoral Letter

Dear Friends,

It’s a New Year! “Out with the old, in with the new,” they say. As if it’s that easy. As much as we want to turn the page and forget about some things from this last year, if we are honest, we have mixed feelings about this new year. This tension we may feel as we stand on the threshold of 2023 is captured well in “Welcoming a New Year” (posted on the Sisters of Saint Martha of Antigonish website):

A new year stands on my doorstep

ready to enter my life's journey.

Something in me welcomes this visitor:

the hope of bountiful blessings

the joy of a new beginning

the freshness of unclaimed surprises.

Something in me rebuffs this visitor:

the swiftness of the coming

the boldness of the entrance

the challenge of a year's good-bye.

Something in me fears this visitor:

the unnamed events of future days

the wisdom needed to walk love well

the demands of giving away and growing.

A new year stands on my doorstep.

with fragile caution I move

to open the door for its entrance,

my heart leaps with surprise,

joy jumps in my eyes,

for there beside this brand new year

stands my God with outstretched hand!

God smiles and gently asks of me:

can we walk this year together?

And I, so overwhelmed with goodness,

can barely whisper my reply: “Welcome in!”

Even as I write this, my dear friends, I am packing up my office to leave the church’s pastoral call for a new call at the seminary to serve as a faculty member and Director of the Doctor of Ministry program. Truthfully, something in me welcomes this visitor; something in me rebuffs this visitor; something in me fears this visitor. And yet, I know deep in my heart that when I open the door to this visitor of a new call in this new year, there I will find God with outstretched hand, asking “Can we walk this year together?”

Friends, I can imagine you have similar mixed feelings about this new year, not knowing who will be coming as your next pastor and when. You are blessed to have the familiar and beloved Rev. Jean Henderson serving as a transitional pastor. She is such a gifted preacher, pastor, and shepherd. She will lead you and love you well, very well! And she will be leading the session and praying for the person God is calling to be the next installed pastor of this beloved church.

Through Jean and one another, I hope that even in the midst of uncertainties and fears, you will find God with outstretched hand, asking “Can we walk this year together?”

I pray that both you and I will find the courage and faith to open the door and with surprise and joy, reply to this new year, “Welcome in!”

May it be so.

Prayerfully yours,

Pastor Donna

How lovely is your dwelling place,

    O Lord of hosts!

My soul longs, indeed it faints,

    for the courts of the Lord;

my heart and my flesh sing for joy

    to the living God. 

Even the sparrow finds a home

    and the swallow a nest for herself,

    where she may lay her young,

at your altars, O Lord of hosts,

    my King and my God.

Happy are those who live in your house,

    ever singing your praise. Selah

(Psalm 84:1-4)