"I do not cease to give thanks for you..."
St. Paul wrote this in his letter to the Ephesians (1:16), but I write it to you today: I do not cease to give thanks for you.
Because this has been an unbelievable year.
Surreal.
Tragic.
Bring-us-to-our-knees stressful.
Yet you have preached, led, and ministered throughout.
So indeed, I do not cease to give thanks for you for—
Staying faithful to your call.
Making decisions you never imagined you'd have to make, making them on the fly, and then making more of them.
Praying for your flock.
Negotiating the competing interests of your parishioners.
Protecting the vulnerable in your congregation by insisting on safety measures in the face of opposition.
Learning video production so your people could hear the gospel proclaimed and worship God.
Experimenting with preaching, liturgy, and ways to offer pastoral care when you felt you had no creativity left.
Modifying worship over and over—and over.
Making sure those who can’t attend online knew they were not forgotten.
Preaching through the most unpredictable election cycle of our lifetimes.
Offering what you could even if you felt pandemic, compassion, or outrage fatigue.
Bearing witness to, and crying out in the wilderness for our Black and Brown neighbors.
Tending to the needs of your loved ones.
Holding the disappointments and griefs of your parishioners alongside your own.
Finding Good News for others when it’s hard to find it for yourself.
Relying on God to bear you up for another required meeting when you’re Zoom’ed out.
Having the strength to ask for help from family, friends, colleagues, and God.
Preaching Good News in your words and in your life, every single week.
For all this and more I do not cease to give thanks for you, because your continual "yes" to serve Christ fills me with awe.
I pray your Thanksgiving, no matter how or when it is celebrated, is filled with gratitude to God for the good works being done through you.
I assure you—it is more than you can ask or imagine.
Gratefully yours in Christ,
Lisa+
“One of the essential paradoxes of Advent: that while we wait for God, we are with God all along, that while we need to be reassured of God’s arrival, or the arrival of our homecoming, we are already at home... The mind can’t grasp paradox; it is the knowledge of the soul.”
May it be part of a blessed Advent of holy anticipation.