allinoffice

Beloved,

This is my last time writing to you. While I am filled with hope and anticipation—for Allin Church and myself—for the days and years to come, I am also feeling pretty sad. I’m sad because I love you, because I love this church, because I love the ministry we’ve been able to do together these last four years. As I’ve prepared to leave (tossing out the papers I don’t need anymore, getting things together for the person who’ll come next, clearing out the Sunday school for—praise God!—new floors to go in), I’m struck by how much I have to be grateful for.

I am so thankful for the wise and playful and brave children of this church. These kids have taught me how to pray during my time here: their thoughtfulness and their depth, the way they think of the biggest concerns and the smallest things and offer them up to God, has deepened my own knowledge of the divine.

I am grateful for the ways we have all grown in our ministry these last four years. The children and parents of the church trusted me to totally overhaul the way we do Sunday school, so that it could work better for our children (even if it looked way different from how it has in decades past). I’m grateful for the adults of this church making more space for children in our worship; I’m grateful that y’all have allowed Cheryl and I to plan and lead so many inter generational services, so that people of all ages can experience the wonder and joy of worshiping God in community. I am grateful to have gone through the process of becoming Open and Affirming with this church; seeing you all open your doors ever wider was a gift to me, and to this world.

I am grateful that you all have been a place for me to grow as a minister, to grow in my preaching, worship leadership, and administration.

Of course, there is so much more to be thankful for: for your willingness to learn alongside me, for the ways we have opened our lives up to one another, for the ways you are turning outwards to your community in Dedham and beyond, for the ways the Spirit continues to move through this church, 381 years after its founding.

I am filled with hope for this church. Here are some of my hopes for you in the days and years to come:

I hope you will continue to follow the Spirit’s leading and try new things. It takes courage to lead a service in a different way, to try a different type of programming, to connect to people who are different from one another. That courage exists here, in this church, in each one of you. I have seen it. Hold fast to that courage, and see where it takes you.

As a congregational church, all congregants—equal before God—are the ministers and leaders. I pray that you all will continue to take ownership of the ministries of this church. (The best way you can honor me as I leave, and the best way you can care for Cheryl during Gabe’s sickness, is to care for each other, and to carry on the work of this church).

I hope there continues to be time—in the Sunday school, in youth group and confirmation, in worship and adult education—for you all to play, to be creative, to see something new from each other and God. I hope each person, from the youngest to the oldest, finds in this church a place to rest and a place to be challenged.

I long for each of us to remember, to really know in our bones, that Jesus is with us, always. I long for that knowledge to give us comfort and peace and courage and strength and hope.

With you in the Love of Christ,

Lindsay

PS: This church has done so much to help me prepare for ordained ministry. My ordination service will be sometime in the fall, and I’ll make sure you all know about it, so that we can all celebrate together what God is doing.

Church is a place where we mark significant transitions in our lives: it’s a place where babies are baptized, where couples are married, where we say a final goodbye to our loved ones in funerals. At these times, we remember that God and God’s community holds us. In all the changes in our lives, God’s love is a constant.

As we thought about Children’s Sunday this year, we realized that that title was a bit of a misnomer: it’s been a service that has been planned by the children and the youth of our congregation, and a large part of it is recognizing the graduating seniors in our congregation (who are adults now!)

This year, we’ve been blessed to have our children participating in inter-generational worship once a month: we’ve celebrated holidays together, done a baptism during a snow storm, explored the words of the Lord’s Prayer, and more. We’ve opened up our worship to include more art, more candles, different ways of praying, and even a few snacks (when we ate matzah as we re-told the story of the exodus from Egypt). It’s been a gift to all of us to have our children involved in planning and leading worship more than just one Sunday a year. It’s helped all of us connect to God, and it’s helped make a place for all our members to experience worship in new and meaningful ways.

Because of that, we’re shifting the focus on “Children’s Sunday” to “Milestone Sunday.” We’re recognizing the significant milestone of two of our members graduating from high school (congratulations, Erin and Kyle!) and moving on to college. We’ll also be giving Bibles to our 1st graders and our 5th graders: another big milestone.

When we baptize babies in our congregation, after the parents and godparents say their vows, and after Cheryl pours the water on the baby’s head, the rest of us stand and say a vow:

“With God’s help we will proclaim the good news and live according to the example of Christ. We will surround this child with a community of love and forgiveness, that he may grow in his trust of God, and be found faithful in his service to others. We will pray for him, that he may be a true disciple who will walk in the way that leads to life.”

When we mark the milestones in the life of our congregation—from infancy to toddler-hood,  to getting your first storybook Bible,  to graduating from high school—we’re living out the commitment we made at the baptism of these ones. We remember that we promised to proclaim the good news and live according to Jesus’ example, and that we promised to surround each other with a community of love and forgiveness. We witness God’s faithfulness as people grow up into the adults God has called and created them to be.

My hope is that this won’t just be a time of celebrating the milestones of our young ones. What are some of the milestones you’ve passed this year? Did you make it through a significant illness or hospitalization? Did you get a new job or retire? Did you have a baby or a grand-baby or a great-grand-baby?

Remind us of these milestones (send an email, give us a call, snag Cheryl or me during coffee hour), so that our service can include these, too. God is faithful to us from before we’re born to long after we die, and every mile along the way. We want to remind ourselves of that faithfulness!

With you in God’s love,

Lindsay

PS: I know we’ve been calling it Children’s Sunday for a long time; my hope is not to replace that title, but to shift and open our focus, so that we can all see how God is moving among us, today.