Stars, keep the watch. When night is dim,
one more light the bowl shall brim,
shining beyond the frosty weather,
bright as sun and moon together.
People, look east and sing today;
Love, the Star, is on the way.
(People Look East, verse 3)
As we reach this third Sunday of Advent, we continue to look east in anticipation of the coming Christ child and in anticipation of the Universal Christ, who fills all creation, drawing us more fully into the eternal love and grace of God.
Each week as we light the candles on the Advent wreath, we commit ourselves to practice a quality that brings this grace into our lives and the world: hope, love, joy, and peace. This week as we light the candle of joy, we think about the stars and how they shine brightly even beyond the frosty weather, witnessing to the ways that joy can be fully present in the midst of grief, uncertainty, and troubling times.
I am experiencing this first hand as I prepare for the transition from being one of your senior pastors to a district superintendent. I am full of many emotions as I prepare to make this shift. It has been a wonderful experience to lead, serve, worship, learn, and witness with you. We have done so much together in the last two and a half years. We have resumed our full range of ministry after Covid-19 constraints, created a new mission statement and values along with a strategic plan, welcomed new staff and congregation members, added new ways to witness in the community like at the Flying Pig, discerned a new vision for the OTR campus, and most recently created a new staff structure.
It has been a joy to be your pastor and to help lead in the midst of all of these things and so much more. Learning about each of your stories and your passion for learning, generosity, and justice has been so inspiring. I have grown in so many ways by leading with you at Hyde Park Community UMC.
And so in the midst of rejoicing in you and giving thanks for my time with you, I am also sad to leave you. I am, however, stepping out in faith, fully confident of the leading of the Holy Spirit in this next step of my call to serve as the District Superintendent for the Great Miami River District, which includes supervising the 135 churches within Butler, Clermont, Greene, Hamilton, Preble, Montgomery, and Warren counties. I am also confident of God’s working through the new leadership structure we have developed and the amazing leaders who are stepping into these new roles.
As we talk about the stars and joy, this will be my last Sunday to preach. I am looking forward to sharing with you about Luke 1:39-56 & Philippians 2:12-18, reflecting on how we might “shine like stars.”
Keep shining,
Pastor Suzanne