Pastor Kathi McShane 

It’s a strange thing, to be leaving after feeling this community to be at the very center of my life for the past four years. And I am learning that it really is possible to hold together a whole bunch of emotions that seem contradictory: sadness and joy, confidence and uncertainty, gratitude and grief.

I’m writing this article on a Saturday afternoon, just after working on a sermon (on “doing good”) in which it seemed appropriate to list just a few of the ways in which I’ve seen individuals in this congregation do some extraordinary good. And I was most conscious, as I wrote the names of just a few of those people, of how many more there are in this place.

One of the great strengths of this church, perhaps the strength that will be most important in keeping the church on the trajectory of growth and ministry we have worked on together, is the great number of people who are actively engaged in that ministry. This is not one of those churches where 20% of the people do 80% of the work. This is a church that is doing good in so many ways, where there is a place for everyone to be involved. Some of it is hands-on ministry in the community; some of it (less and less, I always hope) is necessary to keep the church in good shape; some is about enhancing worship life; some of it is teaching and leading others.

All of it is good work. All of it is important. I have learned and grown so much from being here with you. Much of the time I have been your pastor, I have had the sense that I was being carried —that all of us were being carried—by some purpose that none of us had yet named.

As your pastor, I have all along been stretched and challenged and pushed to edges where I had no choice but to trust God. Thank you for welcoming me to grow while I was leading you, and for growing with me.I am so grateful to have been with you for this part of the long and faithful life of this church. I will carry you with me, and will be watching your continuing ministry in Midtown Sacramento, even from a distance.

With love and blessings, Kathi