Pastor's Message

December 2005

Advent is a season of expectant waiting, of preparation for a renewal of the story of our Lord’s birth. It is a time when we move with gathering anticipation of the most wonderful celebrations of Christmas. It is also the beginning of the liturgical year as we renew the whole story of the life and ministry of Jesus Christ in our worship cycle.

Expectant waiting, preparation, anticipation, new beginnings are all words which well describe the process of moving forward in a time of Interim Ministry toward the time when a new pastor will be called to serve St. Paul’s United Church of Christ. I am blessed and honored to have been selected to serve you in this time of great promise. I write this letter having attended worship with you on Sunday, November 13th sort of like a church mouse, unannounced and full of the excitement of experiencing what will be my church home for this time of ministry together. My wife, Pat, and I were filled with a sense of the Holy Spirit as we worshipped with you. Pastor Dieterly’s sermon on the Parable of the Talents spoke directly to me about the opportunity we have together to be Christian – that is to remember that we serve in all times and places of our lives as the living Body of Christ in the world. I wish him and his wife God’s blessings as they continue their journey of ministry in their new home.

In the coming weeks and months I hope to share with you something of my life and journey of faith as I walk together with you through this time of transition. As an Interim Pastor I come not to stay, but to assist you in this journey. My fulfillment will be when you call your next pastor and I move on to another Interim Ministry. But for the time we spend together, may God richly bless our shared ministry. This is not a time of rest on a park bench, but a time to stride confidently across a bridge to the future of St. Paul’s. The ministry which Christ gives to us does not wait for the completion of this process. Indeed it is through this ongoing ministry that his promises are fulfilled in us and gives us the confidence to trust that He will lead St. Paul’s to a new pastoral leader.

I come to you after 22 years of ministry in the Lutheran Church. My first church was St. Peter’s in Spring Grove, a Union church, where I began my ministry in cooperation with a congregation of the United Church of Christ. I am especially happy to have this opportunity, in my first Interim Ministry, to serve in a UCC congregation. My last call was to Palm Lutheran Church in Palmyra, Pennsylvania where I served for thirteen years. I worked very closely with two UCC congregations in the area in a uniquely cooperative community ministry organization. I also spent five years as a doctoral student at Lancaster Seminary, graduating this past May which enabled me to expand my circle of UCC friends and colleagues. I will be fully your pastor for the next few months and I hope to serve you in all the ways you expect to be served. I look forward to sharing our lives together during this Advent ministry over the coming months. May we look back on this time as one where we shared our strengths and upheld each other in our weaknesses, where we trusted in the promises of Jesus Christ and continued to be his witnesses. As Pastor Dieterly put it so well in his sermon on November 13, let us be Christian together.

Pastor Cluley