This is a hard time of year. You can sense spring. You smell it on the breeze occasionally. You infer it with the song of a fat robin perching outside your window.  Still the snow is dirty. The cold wind seems endless, and you STILL can’t put that winter coat away. It’s the transition from one season to another, from one reality to another that taxes the spirit. But I am a woman of imagination and faith. That’s what gets me through.

This year’s turning has been particularly hard with the winter that will not end, and now with the announcement of John Jensen’s retirement, our beloved Director of Music on June 1st, the transition seems particularly poignant.  John has been such a blessing to our church. He has astounded us with his music making, and his tender heart. John will be stepping back from the rigors of evening rehearsals, and Sunday morning worship. But we are getting creative with this wonderful musician and friend. We are living into this transition, into this new reality with our imagination, and faith. John will continue to work with the Jazz Band, and make guest appearances in our worship services next year. That’s what we have planned so far. I will sorely miss seeing and creating worship with my colleague every week, but I am living into a spring of good goodbyes, and hope for the future with imagination and faith. That’s what gets me through. That’s what gets us all through, I think.