A Letter from Lindy June 12

Pilgrims,

As I prepare to step away to honor the one year marker since Lanny’s death, I find that words are not coming easily as I swim in, with, and through my emotions. Like getting your bearing in the waves, they have a tendency to command your focus and          concentration, waiting for the next one to take you on a wild ride. Maybe it is a good thing I am not preaching, as Felix will be. I am grateful to her for her positivity and open  willingness to step in wherever she is needed. I know you will hold her inaugural  sermon with love and care.

June 13th is certainly a threshold for your pastor, but it doesn’t mean, as all who have experienced loss know, that your grieving miraculously becomes somehow easier to hold. I have learned that it is always there waiting for me at the end of a busy day. Ever-present, if even I learn to compartmentalize to function in whatever role I find myself. You uncover, I’ve discovered month by month,  new ways to walk with, because most folx you encounter don’t even know you have this constant companion. I am, as so  many, a work in progress.

As much as I want to name each of you who has stepped in to offer me love and      support in countless ways, invariably I would forget someone (as I am want to do these days) and cause needless pain. That I could not bear. For all of the check-ins by text, phone, email, drop-in, walks–I am grateful for the ways in which you have tried to    surround your minister with pastoral care as she navigated so many firsts. I thank you from the bottom of my heart. I could not have made it through this year without you.

I look forward to commemorating our little pantry garden upon my return (6/19) which will hold some of Lanny’s ashes along with a peace pole designed in his  honor by Claudia Fulshaw. I pray you have a moment to join us during our fellowship time for a brief prayer and song, and then lift a small glass of beer in homage to Lanny’s love for pub theology. A wonderful testament to the small group in which he found his place at Pilgrim.

 
with love,
Pastor Lindy (she/her) why pronouns matter
 
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