"Navigating New Terrain"

It just seems so appropriate to be starting

my ministry here at Quentin United Church
of Christ just as spring is arriving!  I love
spring!  It is such a treat to watch the
daffodils and tulips come up slowly and
start to open. It has been such a blessing for me to be inPennsylvania these past four and a half years.  Not just, because the food is spectacular and the people amazingly friendly, but because I actually get to see, smell and experience spring!A time when new growth begins to bud and blossom and we get to watch it gradually unfold before our eyes. 

Now growing up in Vermont, I had become accustomed to the "six" seasons, fall, winter, more winter, mud, spring and summer, with Mud season more or less coming somewhere between April and May depending on how hard the winter had been.  Now, as you all know, driving in snow and ice is hard enough but navigating a back road, with a natural spring buried beneath the dirt road, can be quite tricky.  You don't want to be "stuck in the mud"!

I learned that the trick to getting through the mud smoothly and cleanly was to go slow, look for solid ground, and pray that the car wouldn't be dragged in like some tracking beam or slow moving quick sand.  Everyone had their own ideas of course: "stay to the right, go slow and then gun it real fast" or "just plow really fast through the whole mess and stay away from the ditch." Nevertheless, for me what always seemed to work best was to go slow, keep a strong hold of the steering wheel, remain calm, be patient and just pray.  I only recall being stuck once in the twelve years I lived in the country (and I wasn't actually the driver at the time).  As we navigate new terrain together here at Quentin, I think my experience of having to navigate muddy back roads will help remind me to go slow, listen and remain calm, look for solid ground, and always pray.

Spring here in this beautiful part of Pennsylvania invites all of us to get to know each other in a sort of flowering and budding kind of way.  As spring begins to unfold and reveal itself to us, I am also looking forward to getting to know each and every one of you as we begin to build our relationships together.  I am looking forward to being your Pastor and walking with you in your journey of faith, your passion for God, and your ministry to the wider community! What kind of new opportunities and relationships might begin to spring forth and unfold in each of us?

Peace and Blessings,

                    Pastor Jackie

Search Sacred Text                                                 

Book:  Chapter:   Verse:

New American Standard Bible King James Bible