A Letter from Lindy Jan 4

Happy New Year Pilgrims,

I pray you all came gently through the night, open to the possibility of epiphany for 2026. The year 2025 was a chapter I was ready to close. I wonder if I hold that sentiment alone. Probably not. 

I’ve spent the week thinking back on our Advent/Christmas series, grateful for our exploration into the very real tension between hope and fear. Epiphany’s story reinforces this dichotomy. Christ is born, yet it feels as if the world has not changed. Herod is still in power. The temptation to give up is strong, especially in the face of violence.

But the magi don’t let Herod’s fear-driven demands stop them from honoring the newborn Christ or returning home by a different way. They model for us what it looks like to be led by hope, moving through fear without letting it paralyze us. As we turn this seasonal chapter and let a new year begin, my prayer is that we proclaim: our journey continues and fear won’t have the last word.

One sentiment that pushes against fear, I have found, is gratitude. I have tried to use this letter to plant Pilgrim seeds of thanksgiving. Each week of Advent, our traditions invite us deeper and deeper into the mysterious ways in which the Holy moves through and prepares us for in-breaking. I feel God’s breath as we create each Sunday’s specialness, which absolutely takes a congregation. 

A host of volunteers work to usher in Hanging of the Greens and Adventfest, Alternative Gift/Giving Market, the Christmas Cantata, Children’s Pageant, and, of course, Christmas Eve itself. Not only the volunteers who storytell and sing, and the deacons who facilitate everything into being, but equally those who organized and produced the wonderful meal that preceded worship. I can’t begin to offer names because surely I will accidentally leave someone out who deserves our blessing. So to all who made this season as joy-filled as it has been, thank you! 

Our thanks cannot end with Christmas, for the Sunday after, what a delightful worship service around tables that drew us into fellowship and conversation! Grateful for our Readers’ Theater volunteers, fellowship hosts, and all those who brought treats– you helped make the morning delightful and scrumptious. 

As Christmas gets packed away for another year, let us lift our hearts in thanksgiving to the Pilgrims who decorate our campus. It is no small undertaking, and yet these amazing folks make the beauty and comfort of our Christmas surroundings feel effortless, when they are anything but. For all of you who create and pack away, we are grateful for your caring touch (and probably a good deal of sweat equity).

It truly takes a village.

grace and peace,

Pastor Lindy

(she/her) why pronouns matter