My Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
This Sunday will be my last Sunday at Truro after many years as a parishioner and then several years on staff. As I reflect on my years here, I’m reminded of an old joke Rob often tells: Two Anglicans were sitting next to each other in the pews waiting for the service to start. One leaned over and said, “I see one of the lights on our chandelier has burnt out. Tomorrow, we need to get the ladder and change that bulb.” The second person looked at the first horrified and said in a loud frightened voice: “CHANGE, Anglicans don’t CHANGE!” HAHAHA Perhaps we forget that God makes change all around us, every minute of every day.
Change can often be hard. However, God has actually designed us to change. Each day is new and different, our seasons change, we change daily from birth to death. Our families change, our neighbors change, our houses change, our friends come and go in our life, the world around us changes. Sometimes change is of our choosing and sometimes change happens and we have no say in it.
Since Rob and I started at Truro, actually in 1992, then again in 2014, all of us have gone through many, many changes together, too numerous to recount here. Some of those changes were great for some and excruciating for others. Over the last few years, we have been through many changes yet again. Again, some folks have weathered those storms better than others. We all know that things are going to change, whether we want them to or not! Our challenge is how do we work together to endure and grow because of the changes before us, so that each of us is able to make those changes well? And then together, we can be stronger because of we have helped each other through the changes.
As a military family, we moved 8 times before arriving in Fairfax in 1992. Change was always in our future. One of the ways we made those constant changes was to look forward with hope to what new and exciting things God had for us to do for Him.
One of the most exciting and challenging scriptures for me is: “See I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland” Isaiah 43:11 God is indeed doing a new thing at Truro. Our work, with his help, is to perceive what God is doing. Already NOW, it springs up! How do we do perceive what God is doing? I suggest: prayer, talking with each other, listening to each other, discerning together what God is doing, than saying “yes Lord, send me!” Who is going to do what God is doing, if not you? What new thing is God calling you to do at Truro? Where can God best use your gifts? Prayer ministry, the choir, kids’ ministry, Truro Cares, TIPS, helping with the Sunday services just to name a few. Truro, our beautiful family and church is depending on you to help her change and grow into the Lord’s beautiful bride. You are key to our change. You have the power to bring about good and excellent work for the Lord!
Rob and I have been called to do a “new thing!” While we won’t be at Truro every Sunday our hearts are with you all as you grow and change. We have a new assignment on the Piankatank River, in the little town of Hartfield, VA. We are excited about the new challenges the Lord has set before us. Things are sprouting and growing and changing already down on that river and we’re excited to be a part of God’s work! Please pray for us, as we perceive what God is doing with us. We thank you for your love and support over the years. Our hearts are full of joy and gratitude, filled to the brim pressed down and overflowing with your love.
Thank you and God’s blessings on your journey.
Sue+ and Rob