a love letter to our church community

(Photo taken at Zurich Mennonite Church on Christmas Eve)

Today was our last Sunday with our two beloved church families in Kingsfield.

My heart is overflowing. So many encouraging words and blessings were spoken today. So much so that I was reminded of our wedding day, probably the last time so many people we love were gathered in one place and surrounded us with their love. It was a sweet day. An emotional day. Tim preached and I led worship one last time (with an amazing group of people who I will miss playing with) and afterwards we did what we have done so many times with this community: we potlucked. I truly did not hope for anything more than to eat together and connect with many individuals to encourage each other one more time. I have trouble being the recipient of public thanks. It truly would have been enough to thank God for giving us to each other for this season of our lives. But then there were speeches and gifts, including a scrapbook lovingly made by a friend (her very first) and envelopes to open when we got home. We feel so honoured.

I wrote a note to our church family that I didn't have a chance to share this morning. (Did I mention Tim was preaching?) So I thought this might be one good place to share it...

We are so very grateful to have spent so much of our lives with this beautiful family of faith. We have lived in Zurich now for more than half our married life. You have been the only church family our girls have known. You have walked with us through the joys and sorrows of the past seven and a half years. You have celebrated the birth of our two girls with us. You have wrestled with us through the difficult questions of how to be the bride of Christ in this place and in this time. You have blessed and supported us when we needed to rest or retreat, and you have given us a place to grow... in our spiritual lives, our leadership, our family. (Some of you have unabashedly challenged us to grow our family in another way too!)

We have worshipped together. We have sought God's heart together, and we have known the desert together -- that necessary place He leads us because He loves us too much to leave us as we are.

We have mourned the loss of dear friends with you, and celebrated so many births and baptisms. Seeing children, young people and adults come to faith in Jesus has been among the highlights for us. We have seen God give visions and words of knowledge to sharpen and warn and encourage us. We have seen His love soften hearts and break down walls. And we have also longed for Him to become real to others, to see broken relationships restored, to see no one get left behind. And while we have not seen all of what we hoped for, we have seen God at work: bringing freedom, bringing comfort, bringing His longings to our hearts, bringing His peace.

And we have laughed. How we've laughed. (Thank you, Christmas Eve sheep for one of my heartiest laughs of 2012.) And we've cried. And prayed and sung and served. And taken risks together. Like planting a new church. Like creating new positions and hiring new leaders. Like baptizing people in Lake Huron in October... or June, for that matter. Like packing 30 youth into our living room when it was already half full with an oversized Christmas tree. Or having Junior Youth belt out karaoke into a microphone on the street in front of our house. Or partnering with our brothers and sisters in places like Columbia and Jane-Finch and at the local hockey arena. Or going on the difficult journey of looking back over our story so we could move forward with greater understanding and healing. That took courage.

We could not have asked for a more wonderful team of leaders at both churches. Tim would often come home from elders meetings well after midnight, energized by the faithfulness and wisdom of the leaders, instead of exhausted as I expected. "They are the best team of leaders I've ever worked with," he'd often say. I hope you know what a treasure you have in both your staff and lay leaders.

We will take with us so many good memories, friendships, and the knowledge that God saw fit both to use us and shape us here, for His glory. We are leaving not quite the same people as when we arrived, but as richer people because of the gifts God has given us through you. We couldn't have foreseen what many of these gifts would be -- and probably wouldn't have requested all the ones that made us press harder into God -- but He is all-seeing and good and He knows what we truly need.

We look forward to hearing stories of how God is at work among you in the years to come. We believe He has plans for you beyond what you could ask or imagine. I confess that some days I feel sadness that we won't get to see the next chapters of Kingsfield up close. But we have peace about His calling us elsewhere too. We're eager to know what that will look like. Our sense is that for now He is asking us just to trust and to wait on Him. We have nicknamed Him "The God of the Eleventh Hour" because of how He has tended to work in our lives over the years. So while it has seemed like the eleventh hour has come and gone, and it's now midnight, we also know He is a master planner who loves to show Himself in our need. So we are looking forward to having a new God story to tell of how He provided for us. It's coming. In the meantime, you can pray for us that we'll wait on Him well.

We bless you -- each of you -- and commit you again into the Lord's hand. And still, we will continue to hold you in our hearts.