To Everything There is a Season

January 19, 2015

Dear St. Paul's Family,

Yesterday, I shared this statement with the congregation, and would like to share it with you now:

STATEMENT TO THE CONGREGATION

January 18, 2015

The author of Ecclesiastes wrote, “To everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven.”  For nearly eight years, our season together has been among the most richly rewarding of my life and ministry, and I must share with you today that it is drawing to a close. 

This summer, my Bishop in Florida, Kenneth Carter, will be reappointing me to serve another congregation.

I share this news with an intensely mixed array of emotions.  On the one hand, it means that my daughters and I will be back in our hometown, where I grew up and where they were born, serving among colleagues that guided and clarified my ministry.  But I am also saddened to have to say good-bye to a congregation, and a community, that I have grown to love dearly and deeply.

We have much to remember and celebrate over the course of our eight years together.  But with any contribution I have made to your lives and this community, you have given to me and my family an equal share of yours.  It is no understatement to suggest that if I had to go through the kind of personal drama I have experienced over the past four years, I can think of no kinder, more nurturing, and more generous community than the one I have been privileged to serve here.  Even in my darkest, most difficult moments, Sunday mornings with you never failed to be as uplifting and encouraging to my spirits as I hope I have been to yours.

Bishop Carter is appointing me to serve as the senior pastor at Hyde Park United Methodist Church in Tampa, Florida, which he has described as one of the one hundred largest congregations in the world.  More importantly than its size, Hyde Park is the place where I served as an associate pastor for seven years, under the tutelage of my friend and senior pastor Jim Harnish, honing the skills which I employed in service to you.  It is where Madelyn was baptized, where the girls grew up, and in a city where I have dozens of relatives within a thirty minute drive, including my parents, brothers, and their families.

In making this announcement, part of my sorrow is tempered by my strong belief in the connectional system of the United Methodist Church, which follows a process to find the best pastor for the right churches at the right time.  That same process that brought me to you will inevitably bring you the best pastor to succeed me.  It will be done in consultation with your Staff-Parish Committee, led by John Chalstrom.  Our itinerant system, which moves pastors around from church to church, might be seen by some as a burden when pastors have to leave, but it does ensure that I will always have a church to serve, and that this church will always have a pastor.  Because you are a United Methodist congregation, you don’t ever have to worry about going out and finding a pastor to serve you. 

As for the immediate future, I intend to serve among you until the end of June, until my term in Tampa begins on July 1.  The girls, under a new visitation arrangement with their mother, will stay with her from July until Mid-August, when they will come down to join me to begin our new life together.  And because they will be making frequent trips to Sioux City to see their mother, don’t be surprised if I tag along and make an occasional side trip to Cherokee to reconnect with many of you.

In the meantime, we still have six months together, and I look forward to what still lies in store.  We have a Pancake Race next month, along with Holy Week and Easter morning, Confirmation Sunday, Graduation Sunday, and one final Vacation Bible School.  There are many more laughs, joys, and poignant moments to share.

Ultimately, I want you to hear how incredibly grateful and humbled I am to have been your pastor for this length of time.  It has been, and will continue to be, a transformative experience in my life and ministry.  Every church I serve from now on, including the one I go to serve this summer, will be impacted by your imprint on my life. 

You have put God’s love into action in me. Now you will put God’s love into action through me.  And I will always thank God for you. 

Grace and Peace,

Magrey

The Rev. Magrey R. deVega

St. Paul's United Methodist Church

531 W. Main St.

Cherokee, IA  51012

Ph:  712-225-3955

Email:  mdevega@sp-umc.org

STATEMENT FROM DISTRICT SUPERINTENDENT TOM CARVER

Dear Friends in Christ of the St Paul’s United Methodist Church in Cherokee,

Today I share with you the wide range of emotions that come with an announcement such as the one that Pastor Magrey has made.  But along with the sadness of coming “good byes” is the hope of a new chapter in the life of Pastor Magrey and St Paul’s.

I look forward to working with your Staff Parish Relations Committee in the coming days to provide for the ongoing pastoral leadership of this congregation. While this means that there will be a change in pastors this summer, the ministry of St Paul’s United Methodist Church will continue as it has for 157 years since its founding in 1858.  

In the coming months we will want to give Pastor Magrey, Grace and Madelyn our prayers and support as we all prepare together for this time of change. The good news is that God’s guidance will be there to help us grow through this season of transition.

Your fellow servant in Christ, 

Tom Carver

To view past editions of the Mid-Week Message, visit  http://mdevega.blogspot.com. 

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