Pastoral Letter: A Season of Harvest
Dear SUM Family,
Grace and peace to you in the name of Jesus Christ.
Fall seems to have arrived all at once.
After attending the Annual Convocation in San Francisco, I returned to Simsbury last Monday evening. It was already dark when I arrived, so I had not noticed much. But the next morning, as I left the parsonage for church, I was taken by surprise. In just one week, the landscape around me had completely changed.
The trees around the parsonage had turned red, orange, and gold, and fallen leaves were already scattered along the road to church. When I looked toward the hills in the distance, they, too, had taken on the colors of fall. Only a week had passed, yet so much had changed. I was amazed at how quickly the familiar landscape had been transformed. While I was away, fall had made its way to Simsbury.
For some, fall may be the most eagerly awaited season of the year. Every season has its own beauty, but there is often one we look forward to more than the others.
Perhaps life is much the same.
As time passes and seasons change, we find ourselves waiting for something, or someone. Sometimes we carry a hope in our hearts for years, longing to see it fulfilled. At other times, we go about our days, looking forward to what may lie ahead.
In the spiritual journey of our SUM family, too, I sense that some of the hopes carried in prayer for many years are beginning to take shape.
I wonder how many prayers have been offered and how many acts of faithful service have sustained this community through the years. There are those who have served quietly, often unseen, and those who have remained faithful through long seasons of waiting. I cannot begin to imagine all the prayers, sacrifices, and quiet acts of faithfulness woven into the life of this church over the years.
We often call fall the season of harvest. Yet not every hope comes to fruition in a single season. Some take years of patience and care, through countless springs and summers, autumns and winters.
Perhaps that is true of the hopes we have carried for so long.
As I see signs of these long-held hopes beginning to bear fruit by God’s grace, I give thanks to the Triune God. Even when we could not see it, God was at work, nurturing seeds of grace in ways we may never fully know.
And I have one more prayer.
May the fruits we have been given never become a joy we keep only for ourselves. May our entire SUM family rejoice together in what God is bringing forth, and may the blessings we have received extend beyond our church to the neighbors around us.
Fall is deepening around us. In this season, may we continue to recognize and give thanks for the fruits of grace God is bringing forth in our midst.
Grace and peace,
Pastor DH
Simsbury United Methodist Church