From the Pastor’s Desk: January 11, 2015

Dear Grace Community,

Sunday, January 10, was Baptism of the Lord Sunday. Each year we read the story of Jesus’ baptism and remember our own baptisms. In 2015 we baptized five people in our congregation.

What was unique was that none were infant baptisms. Three of the baptized were teenagers, and two were adults who had been active in church for their entire lives but never baptized. Each baptism was a beautiful celebration of God’s claim on their lives and a reminder of God’s claim on each of our lives.

A phrase that comes up in our church is ‘baptismal promises.’ You’re most likely to hear it when we talk about why we teach children’s Sunday School or why we support our youth group. We do these things for many reasons, including that when those children and youth were baptized we promised to help them grow in the knowledge and love of Christ. These promises require action, and it’s easiest to think about it in regards to children and youth, but these promises extend into adulthood and go all the way to the grave.

It’s rare for one person to be born into a church, live a long life, and die in that church. At 97 years old, Bob McCune is one of the few people to be in this situation in our community. He was born into this church, married here, served in countless ways here, and if you ask him, he’ll tell you that when the day comes, his funeral will be here.

I say this to emphasize that Bob is the exception and we have to think more broadly about the promises we make at baptism. We may not be the community to raise a child if her or his parents move to another city, but we trust that another church will carry out those promises for us. In the same way, anytime we welcome a baptized member into our congregation we take on the promises made by another church.

Adults are more self-sufficient than babies, but the promises are as important for adults as they children. In fact, it’s an adult who is likely to know the deep hurts of the world, to experience job loss, divorce, death of loved ones, and other pain. It is our responsibility to let everyone in our congregation know that no matter what, they belong to God. That’s what baptism tells us. No matter what, we belong to God.

These promises to affirm our sister and brothers’ identity in God carry all the way to the grave. We promise to share this good news with the one baptized from the moment of baptism to death. This is why I believe that attending funerals is an extension of baptismal promises. It doesn’t matter if you know the person who died. If they are in our church, we are the church to fulfill the promises made years ago, and we do this by walking with them and their family all the way to the grave.

Each baptism is a glorious celebration, but it is so much more. It is a reminder of God’s claim on our lives and a reminder of the promises to share the good news with others.

In Christ,
Catherine

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From the Pastor’s Desk: January 27

Dear Grace Community,

Are you wondering ‘What to Expect When Your Pastor is Expecting?’ My February 21 due date is fast approaching, and while it’s exciting, it does raise some questions. You’ve asked me a wide range of questions, and I’ll try to cover some of the most common ones.

  • Will I take a maternity leave?
    • The Grace personnel policy allows for an eight-week maternity leave, and it is my plan to take eight weeks. If the baby isn’t early, my last day in the office is Thursday, February 18, and I’ll return sometime around Thursday, April 14. If the baby comes early, this all gets moved up. I am grateful for a policy that allows for this time off, both for my body to recover from childbirth and for time to bond with our new daughter.
  • Who will preach while I’m gone?
    • We have wonderful preachers lined up, all of whom know our community. They are: Amy Baumgartner, Joyce and Danny Daniel, and Geoff and Jennifer Snook.
  • What about the other things you do? Who will do those?
    • Amy Baumgartner and Geoff Snook will cover funerals and emergency pastoral care issues. Deacons and hospital callers will visit hospitals. Staff and teams will cover a lot (probably more than I can imagine at this point), and I’m doing what I can to leave things as ready as possible. There’s a chance things will get missed while I am gone. If something you expect to happen doesn’t, please ask someone on staff for help or an explanation. We have an incredible staff here. I am grateful for their servant-hood and ask that you offer them extra support while I am gone.
  • So, you won’t do funerals?
    • My plan is not to do any funerals during my maternity leave. While I will of course want to walk with you and your family through the death and funeral process, I do not know what kind of shape I’ll be in after having a baby. I know that some women bounce right back while others do not. It is best for me to plan not to be involved.
  • Will I come to worship while I’m on maternity leave?
    • While John and I are excited to introduce our daughter to you, we do not plan to worship here during my maternity leave.
  • Who should visit me in the hospital or at home?
    • When a baby is born in our congregation, Jennifer Snook and I visit the hospital, and whoever the hospital callers are for those days visit as well. I would like to limit hospital visitors to these people (our Director of Children’s Ministries and hospital callers) and hope you will understand. As far as home visits go, I don’t know that I’ll be the best hostess for a while, but in time I’m sure we’ll be glad for short visits. Just call before coming by.

Please let me know if you have questions about any of this, and please keep me, John, and our baby in your prayers.

In Christ,
Catherine

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From the Pastor’s Desk: December 5

Dear Grace Community,

A couple of weeks ago I sat at my desk making worship plans. I read through scripture and liturgies, and I thumbed through the hymnal. One of my favorite things about our hymnal is the online resource. The online hymnal lets us keep track of how many times we’ve sung a hymn and what dates we sang it. It also makes suggestions about hymns to go with scripture.

The best thing about it is that it plays 30-second samples of each hymn. This is immensely helpful because I don’t read ‘music well, so I don’t always know what tune goes with a song. Sometimes the words are wonderful, but the tune is hard, so I know not to choose that hymn.

On this particular day I played Hymn #839 Blessed Assurance, Jesus is Mine! Before I knew it, I was crying. My dear friend Nancy loved this hymn. She and I shared an office at our church in South Carolina for three years. Every Monday we talked about Sunday worship, and we always talked about the hymns. As two non-musicians, we talked less about the musical
characteristics of the songs and more about how they made us feel.

A few years ago, after a remission from breast cancer, the cancer returned to her bones. She did not live long after that.

Nancy was an incredible friend, and at 14 years my senior, she taught me much about life. Her witness as a Christian, a mother, wife, and friend inspired me. I was deeply saddened by her death, but years removed I do not think of her every day or even every week. Yet, her favorite hymn touched a place deep inside of me.

Grief is funny. Not ‘ha ha’ funny, of course, but inexplicable. In worship on November 1, we read aloud the names of people who died in the last year. During that service, I invited you to name aloud saints that you knew, living or dead. It is important for the church to allow space for remembering, for grieving.

On December 14, we have our annual Silent Night Worship Service at 6:30 pm in the sanctuary. The service is quiet, dark with candlelight, and it includes the Lord’s Supper. Everyone is invited. I encourage you to attend, particularly if the month of December is difficult for you, whether it is because of a recent loss, persistent difficulties, or grief that makes an appearance from time to time.

In Christ,

Catherine

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From the Pastor’s Desk: November 24

Dear Grace Community,

On Sunday, November 22, the Presbytery installed me as your pastor. Yes, I was your pastor before Sunday. In fact, this was the third installation. That’s a long story that I’m happy to tell you some other time. For now though I want to say thank you.

Over the summer when I learned that the presbytery would require a third installation for me, I rolled my eyes. I thought it seemed like overkill, that we really didn’t need to do this again. And maybe we didn’t need to, but I’m glad we did.

Worship on Sunday was a wonderful celebration. It was a celebration of God’s goodness and a chance to give thanks for the ministry we share at Grace as pastor and congregation. It was an opportunity to ask God to bless our shared ministry going forward. It was joy filled with incredible music and many people faithfully leading worship. It was wonderful to be joined by sisters and brothers from Chase and Caldwell and to share a meal together after the service.

Thank you for the beautiful stole. You will see me wear it in worship, and I will treasure it throughout my ministry. It’s a wonderful symbol of our lives together at Grace. The imagery on the stole represents communion and baptism. It is only together as a community that we celebrate these sacraments, and I am grateful to be in community with you. I am grateful for the ways you support me and John, and for the ways I know you will love our baby.

In Christ,

Catherine

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From the Pastor’s Desk: October 21, 2015

Dear Grace Community,

In his book, As I Lay Dying, William Faulkner tells the story of the Bundren family. Addie Bundren, wife and mother, dies, and the family must transport her body from their home to its burial place. They plod across Mississippi with Addie’s casket in the back of their wagon. It is a punishing journey. At one point they cross a river, and catastrophe ensues. The casket floats away, living bones are broken, and whatever pride was left is lost. While fraught with disaster, at its core, the Bundren’s journey is a familiar ritual, that of moving from death to burial.

The Bundren family needed someone to help them ford that river. Today when families are faced with death there is figurative water they do not know how to cross. My role is to help them. Others might be able to lead the grieving so far, but when it comes to crossing the water, it is my job to offer a steady hand.

This year as we approach All Saints Sunday onNovember 1, I decided to share this metaphor with you as it informs how I approach death, funerals, and memorial services as your pastor. I am the one who stands in the water. Standing in the water is not for the faint of heart, but it’s what I was called to and trained for. In time I’ve learned how to bend my knees at the right moment so the current doesn’t overwhelm me, though I still get wet and weary sometimes.

In five years at Grace I’ve led more than fifty funeral or memorial services. Each time I find myself, pants rolled up, wading into the waters of grief, holding out my hand, and helping to guide people to the other shore. This means being with them after a loved one dies, making service plans, and leading a service that both witnesses to Jesus’ resurrection and honors the one who died.

I cannot carry someone through the water. I cannot make the journey from death to the grave easy. It is hard work, and work that must be done by those grieving. My role is to guide them as they carry their loved one.

When a family makes it across the water, I don’t keep going with them. I stay by the water’s edge, which can be hard for others to understand. It’s not that I don’t want to go with them; it’s that I know there will soon be another family coming to ford the river. It may not be the next day or week, but soon someone else in our community will die, and there are others who can walk with a family beyond the shore: friends, family, neighbors.

On November 1, we say aloud the names of saints who are no longer with us. I give thanks for those people I’ve been privileged to know, to love, and to serve as their pastor. In our tradition, saints are not only the dead but the living, and so I give thanks for you who serve as witnesses and inspire me in my faith. It is my privilege to be your pastor.

In Christ,
Catherine

 

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