MAY 2010

Volume 3 Issue 1

Dearest Friends;

I am sitting in the upstairs room of the administrative building of the College of the Atlantic in Maine. Acadia National Park is all

around me. The view of the ocean is

breathtaking The strength of the wind blowing off the water is

enough to remind me just how powerful is

the Holy Spirit when we allow ourselves to be moved.

As many of your know I am preparing my ordination papers for the

examination which will occur in December of this year.

However, the unspoken part of this trip is that stepping outside of the day-to-day activities that surround

Bethel, is one of the first steps in preparing my mind and my heart

for the changes that lie ahead.

I am beginning the hard “heart and soul” work of preparing myself to live

freely, passionately, and willingly in God’s will

for me even in the midst of

change and transition...

…,I return to the wind whipping off the waters around Acadia National park. As I type here, at this desk, in Maine,

I think about the wind of the Holy Spirit. God’s Pentecost Spirit says,

you must move with Him or your resistance will paralyze you. Let us

not be paralyzed by fear but let us live in the windy Pentecost Spirit that gave

the disciples the same courage to be disciples in Jerusalem, Judea, and all

of Samaria.

Bethel, while it is time for me to leave, please know you have blessed me these three years. It is with deeper

faith and greater love that I walk forward in July. Thank you. May God

hold you and strengthen you, through Christ our Lord!

Pastor Jen

As most of you know, effective July 1, 2010, I have accepted a new appointment to Epworth United Methodist Church in Gaithersburg. Although I understand some of the small pragmatic details, there are many things ahead that are uncertain and unknown. Please, let me share;

What I Know.

June 13, is my last Sunday preaching at Bethel UMC as your pastor,

After June 15, the conference moving committee will arrange a mover to come and carry away all the boxes we have packed up and somehow it will get done.

June 20, Rev. Charlie Browne of Mt Oak will be preaching

June 27, Rev. George Aist, former Bethel pastor, will preach.

July 1, Rev. Ingrid Wang, begins as Bethel’s new pastor. Her first Sunday with you will be July 4th

My husband and I will try to rent our Crofton house. He has given me the house I have desired, the house of the Lord. How lovely is your dwelling place O Lord of hosts!

We will move into the parsonage next to the new church. My children have already decided they will set up their beds together – even though they can each have their own room.

My children will start 1st grade and Kindergarten. I can walk to each location from our new house.

My husband Edgard continues to be a support, a strength, and comfort for our family. I praise God for his presence in my life and in our children’s lives.I know that God equips us for all things that we are called in faith to do.

Pastor Jen

Page 2

Trust in the Lord with all thy heart and lean not on thy own understanding in all thy ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy path

Page 3

Renew in me a clean heart O God and create a right Spirit within me.

WHY Lord, WHY?

Well, to start, moving from one congregation to another is not something with which I have much experience. And while Bethel has more experience with pastoral transitions, each time this church faced change, Bethel faced the unknown. This unclaimed future can certainly generate many questions. Some are personal and others are corporate in nature. I have questions too. In my prayers, I’ve asked God;

Jehovah-shalom, What about my daughter’s difficulty with transitions? Can I be the faithful

mother she needs in this time of change?

GOD is the LORD of Peace

Jehovah-mekoddishkem, What about my fear of failure? Will I live in faith?

GOD is the LORD Who Sanctifies You Jehovah-rapha, With Tom’s homegoing, will the Bethel family claim Christ as their rock?

GOD is the LORD That Heals Jehovah-jireh, Bethel faces a financial difficulty. Will Bethel have the wisdom to plan future

priorities and goals; the courage to hear "the whole counsel of God" about tithing and giving offerings; and will the saints renew their commitment to caring for the church body?

GOD is the LORD Who Will Provide

El Shaddai, Bethel is not large. Will they continue to live as kingdom children & not just institution

members?

GOD is the All-Sufficient One

Yahweh! Elohim! Will I be pushed harder? Will I find the strength I need in you?

GOD is Lord, Jehovah; Mighty & Strong. Shout His Name! Jehovah-Nissi, Will Epworth respond to my bilingual ministry and pastoral leadership?

The LORD is My Banner Jehovah-Raah, Must I leave Bethel’s faithful? Must I leave their prayerful support and

encouragement? They have deepened my faith, God.

The LORD My Shepherd

Adonai, Bethel has filled my heart. Is it time to share Bethel with another?

LORD God, you are Master! Pastor Jen

Each time I get far enough ahead of myself, I am drawn back again to the passionate and hopeful words of Paul as he wrote to the communities he nurtured. Paul went step by step to encourage them through all the hard details of striving to live as the body of Christ in a world and in lives that are still broken. In the first letter to the Corinthians, starting in the thirteenth chapter Paul reminds us that “If we speak in the tongues of mortals and angels, but do not have love, we are a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if you have prophetic powers and understand all mysteries and all knowledge and if you have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, you are nothing. And If I give away all my possessions and if I hand over my body so that I may boast but do not have love, I gain nothing.” While this passage is beautiful when read at weddings (though not Paul’s explicit intent) and while we often shake our heads in agreement – yes God – love is the most important thing, it is in moments like these that I am reminded that love is not always easy. Love can make us vulnerable and expose us to pain. Love can cause us to grow and grow deeper still when we are returned to the source of Love which is God as we grieve the earthly loss of a loved one. So in times of change, we think perhaps the transition would be less painful if we had not poured heart and soul and mind into all that we felt called to do. Perhaps if we had left out the love for each other – perhaps if our shared love of Christ had not pulled us close together this whole mess would happen a lot more cleanly. And sometimes we go so far as to suggest that maybe we will stop loving in this way. Perhaps, if you leave it to us, God, we will try not to love the next pastor this much, or the next congregation, or the next person. We don’t have to, you know God. It just might not be worth the risk. Of course the gentle response of the loving and patient Creator God is….. ….of course. You do not have to love me, or love those around you or even love yourselves…..but when you are changed by the love of Christ – when you really understand that God, in the person of Jesus, washes your feet with his blood on the Cross – when you understand the sacrificial love given to you by the God who made you…When you really get it – you, like Peter, have no other response to the Resurrected Christ but, “Yes Lord, You know I love you.” Jesus answers, “Feed my sheep.” Even in the grief of loss and the recognition of love for each other, God says, “Feed my sheep” Jen – as I call you to feed. God says, “Feed my sheep” Bethel – don’t just tend to yourselves. There is a world around you in pain. Feed my sheep, Epworth. You receive a family that, in Christ, needs your love and care. Feed my sheep, Bethel. You receive a servant ready to pour out her heart to you because Christ claimed hers. “Do you love me?”, Jesus asks. “Then feed my sheep.” Feeding sheep is something that we are all called do, both clergy and laity. While my pastoral duties at Bethel will cease on July 1, 2010, our shared commitment to the risen Christ will remain. So as you are called to serve in Upper Marlboro and I will serve in Gaithersburg. By our faith in God we will both serve the same God out of our love for Christ.

Pastor Jennifer Fenner