Fare Well!

My family has moved to Colorado to being work at Sonlight Christian Camp. Our house is (mostly) unpacked, my children have started school, and in less than a week I’ll begin day-to-day work there in earnest. I have returned to New York in order to serve in my last Susquehanna Valley Presbytery meeting. So it is time to say farewell.

I knew that when my process of preparation for pastoral ministry was complete I would be ordained to serve as pastor of Nineveh Presbyterian Church. I knew that I wanted to serve on the Committee on Preparation for Ministry, because I wanted to do the same kind of good that had been done for me during my preparation process. I knew that there would be a learning curve to balance work, home, and family lives. I knew these things upon entering Susquehanna Valley Presbytery.

What I did not know in advance was the great blessing that would come to me through presbytery colleagues. I did not—could not without experience—understand how wonderful a weekly lectionary group (The August Rabbis of Bainbridge) would be. I did not fathom the wisdom I was graced to witness at work in Ruling and Teaching Elders with whom I would sit on committees and teams. I had not felt, until walking with you for a decade, the joy of seeking God’s blessing with those whose commitment extends to the whole Church.

So for these rich blessings, wisdom, and joy, I give thanks. I thank God for you, and for the gift of the connections that we have shared. As we say farewell to this time on the trail together, I pray that our commitment to Christ’s Church, to his disciples and his discipleship, may grow stronger every day and year. I pray that the Spirit in us may bear fruit in the Church, and in the world, so that God’s grace may be known more sweetly every season. Though we may now be separated by some earthly miles, we are nonetheless still children in the same household, beloved co-workers in the same labor of divine love.

In Christ with You,

emrys tyler