For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:
Ecclesiastes 3:1
Dear Friends,
This season of interim time with you has been a blessing. You welcomed me with great warmth and acceptance. With humor and grace, you have forgiven me my quirks, foibles and failings.
Most important, you worked hard, first with the transition team, and then with the call committee, to clarify your sense of you are, and where God is leading you. You are ready to call your next pastor.
There are a number of congregations in our synod in transition, some of whom do not yet have a transition pastor. In light of this need, the synod asked if my work among you is complete and if I would be able to move on to another congregation.
I have to answer this question affirmatively. Your Ministry Site Profile is complete and your call committee is poised to begin interviewing. Your council is strong and proactive. The faith community of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church is ready to move into God’s future.
God is calling me to a new future as well. I will be going to Holy Cross Lutheran Church in Herndon as their transition pastor beginning on June 1, 2016. My last Sunday with you will be Pentecost Sunday, May 15th.
During this interim season, we celebrated 50 years of ministry at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church. As part of this celebratory year, you purchased new air conditioning units for your sanctuary, remodeled your narthex, and updated your website. You demonstrated support for the wider church, with special gifts to the synod, the ELCA Malaria campaign, and Gettysburg Seminary. We shared times of laughter as we welcomed children into God’s family through the sacrament of baptism. We have shared times of grief as we honored loved ones at funerals and memorial services. We have worked and struggled together, played and worshiped together.
I will never forget the season I spent with you. It has been an honor and a privilege to serve as your pastor. Holy Trinity Lutheran Church will always have a place in my heart.
Please pray for me as I accompany Holy Cross Lutheran Church on their interim journey. I will continue to keep all of you in my prayer.
May God richly bless you!
The Rev. Margrethe S. C. Kleiber, Transition Pastor