My beloved Mt. Tam Church,
One of the valentines we all received last Sunday was lay leader Joanna Beck’s powerful prayer as we journey the transition of pastors together. It is a powerful and beautiful prayer for this time. It is my joy to share it with you this week. Join me in praying this prayer daily, as God is doing new things here. My heart is with you.
Peace,
Pastor Kim
Creator God, Our church family is in flux. Here’s the story. This congregation is entering a time of pastoral transition; our denominational history gives us a clear path, a clear process. We know and accept the itinerant nature of a UMC pastors’ call. We need your blessing in this new time as Mt. Tam Church works with our Bishop, Minerva Carcaño, our District Superintendent, Staci Current, and our own Staff-Parish Relations Committee as we say goodbye to our beloved Pastor Kim Smith and prepare a welcome for a new pastor.
Help us rejoice and be grateful for the 11 years that Kim has served us. We can celebrate the new life and vitality she shepherded us into as a congregation. We have a healthy, vibrant, and thriving church, thanks to Kim and the lay leadership she has long nurtured. Remind us to be joyous that she and Lindy are heading into their new stage of life, a well-earned retirement.
We don’t know today who our new pastor will be. As we wait to meet our new pastor, as we prepare to enter a new era in our church’s life, be with us, Lord. I stood here 11 years ago, facing a confused and anxious congregation, not prepared for a pastoral transition. I said to the 2010 congregation: You may be unsure now, sad, even a little angry. But soon you will have learned to love our new pastor and wonder how we ever lived without her.
Today we are a more healthy and prepared church family. And with your help, God, we will come to love our new pastor as this church learned to love Kim Smith all those years ago. And someday that person will leave us, as the Methodist cycle turns yet again. And we will wonder how we ever lived without that pastor and what they planted and grew in our congregation. We ask for your steadfast love and guidance, Lord, as we take a big, scary, but necessary leap into the future. Change is scary. Change is exhilarating. Help us recall that “we are the church together.” And together let’s take that leap of faith. Hear what The Spirit is saying to the Church. AMEN.
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