Ben's July Letter

Dear friends in Christ,

After a several-month hiatus—the Banner is back! Our new administrative assistant, Wayne Gates, is at the helm.  If you would like to get on the distribution list for the Banner, just send an email to office@evergreenpresbyterian.org. This moment feels big to me.  Not because having a newsletter is a moment of cosmic significance, and not because Wayne will solve all of our problems (although I suspect he’s capable of solving some of them).  It feels big to me because it feels like things are returning to something I’ll call “hopeful normal”. 

It’s been a crazy season for me, both inside and outside the office.  House-hunting, moving, selling the old house, losing two cars, slowly getting new ones…on top of Angela leaving, construction in the building, and regular busy weeks at Evergreen.  I said when this all began (more like, “all happened at once”) that I figured it would all resolve at about the same time, too.  And so it’s proven to be—things fell apart, and things came back together.  All at once. 

For me, “hopeful normal” means that we can start new routines in bright spaces.  It means having the comfort with things we had before—but with better processes and new possibilities.  It means saying “we’ve done some hard work and accomplished some big things, now what is God doing with us next?”

And of course there is a next.  The Holy Spirit is sent to us for times like these—when we’ve made it through big and sometimes difficult times, and are prepared for something new.  The phase in a new house, in a new car, in a renovated church, with new co-workers—brings possibility.  In time, things feel normal again.  But the hope is always that normal actually means better than before.  We’ll find out together.  I am hopeful. 

I write this before heading off on vacation.  Hopefully I’ll return to you fully restored for a summer of “hopeful normality”. 

In Christ,

Rev. Ben