The only constant seems to be change. The most dependable features of our lives and our life together are movement and alteration and change. Part of me doesn’t really like change. Part of me likes routine, likes the well-worn path, likes knowing how things have worked, how they work now and how they will work in the future. But here is the paradox – God, the eternal God, ageless beyond time, this God seems to love change, love growth and newness and novelty, because change opens new ways of being, new ways of experiencing God and the world, and new ways to discover and use our gifts.

So I am sad that after ten years, Susan Landale is stepping down as editor of the Nicholas News. Through months and years, Susan has worked her magic turning our disconnected words and stories into the chronicle of our life as the Saint Nicholas Lutheran congregation here in Calvert County. Before the current church building, before most of us arrived here, Susan was meeting deadlines, doing layouts, cajoling tardy and reluctant authors and telling the story of one branch of the people of God in this place, making it attractive and interesting and vital. I’ve only been here a year, but I’m going to miss her wry sense of humor, her patience and her grace under fire as editor. I know that God has new jobs in mind for Susan here and I can hardly wait to find out what they are – in the meantime, we can be grateful for her gifts and her service.

I was frankly surprised when my wife, Linda, allowed as how she might like to take on the editor’s job. I waited a couple of weeks and then asked whether she was offering just to be helpful or really felt called to do this – she said that, yes, she really felt called to this ministry. So, starting next month, Linda Gaertner will be the new editor of the Nicholas News. I know that she will be superb and that Susan will do a great job in helping her make the transition.

In the meantime, I’m glad to report that Pastor Wendy has hit the ground running, organizing youth groups and lock-ins and confirmation classes and contributing to the local economy through repeated car repairs and getting her wisdom teeth taken out. :-) Truly, she has been a wonderful gift to us already, further evidence of God’s love of newness and change. In that same vein, I’m also glad to report that Cherise Ross has agreed to step forward as our new Sponsor for Evangelism and Outreach. Cherise and her husband Ron and their children are delightful new members and have already made wonderful contributions to our common life. God loves change!

Change is dislocation, inconvenience and disorientation. But change is also evidence of God at work for good in all things, as Paul tells us in Romans. So we value stability and celebrate change and look forward to the future that God is creating for us, every day and in everything that happens, “all things bright and beautiful.”

Pastor Greg