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From the Pastor's Desk

The month of April brings with it the “queen of festivals” for Christians, and that is Easter, the resurrection of Christ. This is at the heart of our Christian faith; namely, that we worship and serve a risen Savior. The words of the angel to the women on that first Easter morning remind us: “He is not here, but has risen” (Luke 24:6). The cross is empty, the grave is open, and Jesus has opened to all believers the gate of everlasting life. Easter is all about new beginnings.

Easter Sunday this year (April 17, 2022) marks a new beginning in the life of the congregation where I am privileged to serve as pastor. Our longtime Director of Music, Susan Gobien, is retiring after playing for worship on Easter Sunday. The really amazing thing here is that Susan has served in this role for forty years! She began her ministry of music here in March 1982, and has faithfully served as our organist, choir director, handbell director, children’s music director and many other music-related roles since then. Think of all the Sunday (and Saturday evening!) worship services, all the special worship services (midweek Advent and Lent, Christmas, Holy Week, etc.), all the Baptisms, Confirmations, weddings, and funerals that have occurred over these forty years. Think of all the hymns and choir anthems that have been sung, all the preludes, postludes, and other music that have been played, all the practicing and rehearsing that was done to prepare. It staggers the imagination!

Susan’s gift of music for so many years to our congregation is a lasting tribute to her faithfulness and dedication. A planner by nature, she carefully mapped out music for worship well in advance, coordinating everything with the seasons of the church year and themes for each Sunday, ensuring that there would be a cohesive unity in worship that would draw hearts and minds to glorify the Lord. None of this happens by accident, of course. It requires diligence and hard work, things which Susan freely gave to lead God’s people in music and song. As she has said of her tenure as Director of Music at St. John’s: “It has been the joy of my life!” That is high praise, indeed. To God be the glory!

We will be celebrating Susan’s longtime service to our congregation with a Garden Party at church on the Saturday after Easter, April 23, from 5-7PM. This outdoor event will bring together current and former members of St. John’s, fellow musicians, and well-wishers whose lives have been blessed through Susan’s ministry of music over the years. We pray for favorable weather from the Lord’s hand for this event! Susan and her husband, Jurgen, will continue to live in the area, and will continue to be members of our congregation. However, Susan will be absent for a time in order to allow her successor, the New Director of Music (yet to be identified), time to settle in and get established. We wish Susan and Jurgen every good thing from the Lord’s hand as they begin the next chapter in life.

As with Christ’s resurrection at Easter, so with our own lives today: there is a new beginning in Christ. As this is being written, we do not yet have a new Director of Music in place. The Director of Music Search Committee has been hard at work for many months, and most recently has been involved with interviewing candidates for the position. The list is narrowing down, and our prayer is that in the near future, an offer will be extended to an individual who will serve among us, helping us sing God’s praises. Early on, I shared with the search committee the words of Abraham, who said in confident faith: “The Lord will provide” (Genesis 22:14). And so we trust that the Lord will do the same for his people today. The Lord will provide. He will raise up the right person with the right skills at the right time to serve as our next Director of Music.

New beginnings in life can be both exciting as well as unnerving. What we have been accustomed to doing, what we are familiar with, gives way to new patterns. This is how we grow. Those first disciples had to learn a whole new way of living after Jesus had risen from the dead. As Jesus’ Easter people today, we also must learn new ways of living as the risen Christ leads us forward. As we give thanks to the Lord for Susan’s faithful ministry of music for forty years, we also give thanks for how the Lord raises up new leaders to “equip the saints for the work of ministry” (Ephesians 4:12). Thanks be to God!

 

 Susan

God of majesty, whom saints and angels delight to worship in heaven:

Be with your servants who make art and music for your people,

That with joy we on earth may glimpse your beauty,

And bring us to the fulfillment of that hope of perfection

Which will be ours as we stand before your unveiled glory.

We pray in the Name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

(Lutheran Book of Worship, p. 46)