Change. Times of change can be hard. They can be exciting. They can be scary. They can leave us feeling uneasy. And I expect that the members of the Wesley UMC family have experienced many of those feelings and others as well in the last years. We are a very different church than we were 5 or 6 years ago. Some of the ministries that used to define who we were, are no longer happening. During that time, we have had 5 or 6 different persons serving as our pastors. The size of our congregation has changed drastically. Some whom we considered family have moved on. And now in August, we will receive another person, Cindy, as our pastor. And all that has happened has, perhaps, left us scared, uneasy, sad, and struggling. But I also hope as we move past some of those feelings, we are excited.
First, I want to say how privileged I feel having been your pastor for what will soon be six months and how grateful I am for having had Bill and Jordan as partners in ministry alongside of you. Part of the joy for me is getting to serve in now three churches (Pierre, Yankton, Wesley) that my father, Lloyd, served. And it has been a joy to serve alongside of members of this congregation, who although things have been challenging, are still excited for our future and for the ministry that we believe this church is called to be about both now and into the future.
Secondly, I am excited for this church’s future. Yes, things are going to continue to be challenging, but I sense the members of this church family feel called to be in ministry in our neighborhood and I believe that your new pastor will bring good gifts to help you live into that ministry.
One of the things that excites me is that we are sharing our building with two other congregations-one, Slavic/Ukrainian and two, Spanish. My hope and prayer is that in the future we can not only share a building but also a friendship and perhaps even some ministry. (During the Rock the Block week, the Slavic’s contributed some wonderful food to our effort for which we are grateful.) We are also looking at some additional sharing of our building with other ministries/non-profits that will give us new partners to help bring God’s love into our neighborhood. And who knows what else God has in store for us.
As some of you may have figured out, my favorite affirmation of faith in our hymnal comes out of the United Church of Canada (made up of Methodists, Presbyterians, and Congregational churches.) I like it because it begins and ends by reminding us that we are not alone-that God is always with us. My prayer for this church family is that through good and challenging times, we will always remember that. There may me times as we move into the future when we feel scared or uneasy. But if we can remember that God is always with us, we can always look to the future with joy and excitement as we watch what God will do in and through us. Thanks to each of you and the gifts you bring to our family and the ministry we believe God calls us to be about. Howard
