A Letter from Lindy Feb 9

Hi Pilgrims,

 I hope you are moving through the week being gentle with yourselves. I pray you are able to process with care our ever unfolding world. If I know our beloved community in part, I believe we feel called to respond. Respond, but not react.

 I have been using much of my prayer time discerning how best we respond collectively. I can only imagine the myriad of conversations that each of you is having in the other circles you inhabit. I am sure there are lessons to be learned from these conversations.

I was remembering my introduction to Pilgrim eight years ago with a story about how Pilgrim drew together in the aftermath of the fear the 2016 election ignited for so many vulnerable communities. Not unlike today. I heard that Pilgrims gathered together one weekend to talk, explore, imagine around the issues for which they were most passionate. Out of that collective conversation grew Mustard Seed groups that galvanized around an issue/community that Pilgrims understood as essential to our faith identity. From those groups, action plans emerged with concrete steps Pilgrim could take to support, protect, direct funds, and stand in solidarity with these different vulnerable communities (and creation). By the time I arrived on campus, some of the Mustard Seeds had started growing roots and shoots, some had fizzled. I experienced this season as an integral to Pilgrim, defining out of adversity, who it was as beloved community and how its mission and ministry flowed from that identity. It was an essential part of me coming to know you as your pastor.

 I believe imagining that conversation anew might help us in this current moment. Not only turning to each other, as we did in the aftermath of the election, but to begin discussing how we continue to create sacred space for people, how we stand in solidarity with vulnerable communities, how we partner with existing organizations and faith communities around issues, how we direct our resources toward those partners whose federal funding has been slashed, how we resist the dehumanization of God’s children. We need to know that our journey as God’s beloveds has not changed, if even the urgency feels more pressing. This journey has and will continue to have) many twists and turns. And we will keep our eyes focused on our God who calls us forth.

 A conversation will begin in February’s Church Council meeting with Pilgrim’s leadership team and I hope from there, we will expand and set a date for all interested Pilgrims to join together to go deeper. If you have thoughts leading into our Council meeting, please write to me so that I might share a sampling of what we are thinking as a church.

 Reminding ourselves of the soil in which we are grounded and the love that grows in this garden called Pilgrim were our first steps. Now let's imagine the next.

 Pastor Lindy

(she/her) why pronouns matter