The Faith of Our Fathers
How grateful I am to be appointed for a second year to serve in a 1/4 time capacity as your pastor. As most of you are aware, this was the church where my dad, formerly Catholic, fell in love with Methodism and decided to become a minister. This is where he and my mother, both residents of Algiers Point and graduates of Behrman High School, were married. And this is where I was baptized as an infant 73 years ago.
When I retired in 2017, after 40 years of full-time ministry, this is where my husband and I wanted to worship. And when I heard there might be a need for a 1/4 time pastor….well, you know the rest.
Every time I set foot in our sanctuary, I can feel it–all the warmth, openness, love, and joy that my dad must have felt when he first ventured into this Methodist community of faith in Algiers. In his memoir, he wrote that one of the things he loved about Algiers UMC was that he could “ask any dumb question I wanted to ask and I was taken seriously!” He had never experienced such openness in a church before! Algiers UMC was a place where his doubts could be explored and his faith was free to deepen, grow, and mature without judgment or criticism. And it still is!
I know how lucky I am that the faith of my father could be so deeply instrumental in my own spiritual growth. But we all have forefathers in the faith for which we can give thanks, like John and Charles Wesley, who have blazed a path for our spiritual journeys. Moreover, we all have a Heavenly Father whose “steadfast love endures forever.” On Sunday, let us remember them with gratitude. I hope to see you on this special day!
Grace and Peace, Callie
