– Rev. Tara Lain, District Superintendent Harbor
Dear Harbor Friends,
Grace and peace to you. I am grateful for each of you as we continue to journey onward together.
We welcome one new pastor to Harbor District as Rev. Taylor Mills moves to Trinity:Southport. Please extend him welcome!
We lift up those who are moving to new homes and/or communities by way of new appointments within the district:
- Rev. Stuart Milton at St. Paul’s in Carolina Beach
- Rev. Jamie Thompson, Associate Pastor, at Grace: Wilmington
- Rev. Eunsoo Kang, Associate Pastor, at Wrightsville
- Mark Hicks at Carver’s Creek and Hallsboro churches
- Rev. Mark Gustafson at Grace: Elizabethtown, a newly chartered church, birthed from the UM Collective and filled with those seeking to share Christ in ministry with the UMC.
Welcome to a new year together; we give thanks for the laity as we all partner together to make disciples for Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world (and Harbor District)!
A sense of “with-ness”, our communal living, the one body is so apparent to me as I reflect on our last year. This idea of going together forward, exploring who we are and who God is calling us to be in this season, brings us both solace and motivation.
We “get” one another even though we are not all alike, we are all wrestling and celebrating and grieving in the midst of change, anticipation, and hurt.
I’m thankful that our experience is shared and that we have partners for the journey. There is delight that we are discerning God’s call for the future and helping one another interpret the movement of the Holy Spirit.
I am reminded a little of when the Spirit descended upon the people at Pentecost, and they were overwhelmed by the experience. The flames were descending quickly, people began to speak in many languages, and some thought they had tipped the bottle up too many times. The words that describe the folks who gathered to see this are “amazed and perplexed.” Well, friends, I have been amazed and perplexed in the past few months more times than I can count. We have all been overwhelmed in both positive and not so positive ways. We continue to marvel at the Holy Spirit in our midst!
I’m amazed at the beauty I have seen as congregations commit to loving everyone who comes through their doors as Lighthouse Churches. You have shared stories of grace that overwhelm my spirit and send me deeper in love with Jesus and our wonderful UMC family!
I am perplexed by why it took disaffiliation to find some of this grace, because we have always been called to such love. I am perplexed by the way hurtful words fly around social media and within our communities. I continue to let these perplexities go, sometimes daily I let them go again and again, and re-center myself on the beauty of life with God.
Later in the Pentecost story, Peter helps to explain what is happening, who is present, even as Jesus has ascended. He quotes David, as he speaks:
‘I saw the Lord always before me.
Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.
Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;
my body also will rest in hope,
because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead,
you will not let your holy one see decay.
You have made known to me the paths of life;
you will fill me with joy in your presence.’
“The best thing of all is God is with us” as John Wesley puts it. And it is in one another that we often find the love of God, the undergirding of the Spirit, the compassionate grace of Jesus. He does not abandon us, nor leave us alone. We are, as we say in holy communion, “[freed] for joyful obedience” to and with God. I’m grateful that we will move into this new (appointment) year together, this new season together, as we watch and wait upon the Lord for all that is in store for us. Thanks be to God!
