One thing is for sure, our congregation has faced a great amount of loss in the last year-and-a-half. We feel the weight of each loss, as with each passing it feels like another pillar seems to be removed from our congregation. We then feel the responsibility to look to each other to reinforce the mission and the ministries to which we are called. What has always made our congregation
wonderful is not only these incredible men and women we have lost, but even more than that we have always determined to continue journeying together, always looking to the future.

The message we have always been taught to carry forward for the sake of our work is simple: God loves you just as you are, and you are welcome at our table. Christ died for you, and for us all, and because of that even in our uniqueness we can all be one in Christ. There is nothing that can separate us from God’s love in Christ Jesus, and God’s love is enough. We carry on that legacy as we worship, study, and serve together.

Those who paved the way for us always believed in the presence of God at work through this humble community of faith. They believed that we, as a church, are called to great things, and that there is no limit to the things we are capable of accomplishing if we will only follow God’s will and love one another along the way. They gave their lives to the mission and ministry of this church. They kept us tethered to God’s will.

As we recognize our losses, we must also recognize the ways they taught us to live, both with their presence and in their absence. We keep pressing on. We keep preaching the love and forgiveness of Christ in everything that we do. We keep loving each other and all people. We keep walking together and learning to serve everyone around us. And that is exactly what we will do. It is how we honor our brothers and sisters in Christ and carry on their legacies. May we learn to follow Jesus like these saints, who are now gone from us, followed Jesus. May we learn the forgiveness, hospitality, and service of Christ like they did. May we love each other and the world the way they taught us to for the sake of our church, for the sake of our souls, and for the sake of God’s world.

Peace,
Rev. W. Mattison King