Happy Anniversary – Year One
You might remember it was this time last year when I walked into the sanctuary for the first time as a candidate for the position of Settled Pastor. Maria couldn’t be part of that weekend. She had a classroom to pack. I always look better when she’s by my side, and I was hoping her absence wouldn’t be held against me.
Don’t ask me what I preached, but obviously it was good enough for you. It’s all a blur, except for one image: a member of the Search Committee openly crying while I answered your questions in the Painted Cliffs Hall. The journey to get me there had been long and exhausting, worthy of streaming tears, and it was the most loving expression of gratitude I saw that day.
Although the honeymoon might be over, our love is just beginning to grow. I love laughing with you. There are too many painful ailments in our world and a bit of laughter helps us get through it. I love dreaming with you. This church is going to turn the corner soon, and it’s fun to visualize the different ways we’ll do that. I love praying with you. There’s a thirst for the divine presence of God and we’re finding it together in our prayerful moments. I love singing the Lord’s Prayer with you. It is powerful when we join our voices to claim God’s Kingdom in Sedona as it is in Heaven. And believe it or not, I’m loving you for who you are.
Wendell VerPloeg said to me a few weeks before his passing, “I had a spiritual awakening in my old age that I didn’t think was possible…being part of the Search Committee, the decision to bring you here, and how it all has come together… Well, I think I finally understand what it means to be a Christian.”
I hope you can hear Wendell’s voice and his loving demeanor in those words. It reminds me of our main priority as a community of faith: to fully understand what it means to be loved by God. That’s what it’s all about. So, happy anniversary! May our second year together be full of laugher, beautiful dreams, loving prayers, joyful songs, more visitors and new members who want to know the love of God.
With love from Pastor Guillermo
