[Jesus said] “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” Matthew 18:20
Dear Friends in Christ,
This Sunday, we bid goodbye to Mother Elisa Harres after over fifteen years of faithful service. If you didn’t read my message from last week about clergy transitions, please click here. Elisa has been such a blessing to us. In so many ways, she has brought God’s presence to us. We will be sad to see her go. And yet, God’s presence is still with us.
One hopes that the church selects as its clergy those who have gifts for sharing the grace of God. But notice that ordination does not confer upon them this ability as something new. Sharing the grace of God is something all people share in—lay and ordained. As we remember and celebrate the way God worked through Elisa, who else has God worked through in your life? Who else brought you a deeper sense of God’s presence, encouraged you in your faith, opened the scriptures to your learning, prayed for you with compassion? We have a whole community of brothers and sisters in Christ who share the love of God and the power of the Holy Spirit together.
We are all the more blessed for having Elisa in our midst. And we are all the more blessed for having you in our midst, you and others who follow where Elisa has led, journeying together closer to Jesus, and closer to each other in Christ. How are you sharing God’s grace and God’s presence with others?
See you all at Sunday’s celebration!
Yours in Christ,
-Tom