Posts tagged Pastor Heidi
Thank You from Pastor Heidi

I am so honored and grateful to all of you for the thoughtful and joy-filled farewell brunch on January 26th, thank you! My heart is full from all of you who attended and for all the thoughtful words, gracious gifts, and many hugs and well-wishes you shared with me. A special thank you to Michael Hulett and Michelle Converse for organizing the amazing food and customizing the tables with a few of my favorite things: Star Wars, Yoga and Cheeseheads! Ike and I felt truly honored and loved as we move forward into the next chapter of our lives!

I also would like to thank Dave Chavez and all the musicians who participated in worship and made my last Sunday with you all even more special and moving with some of my favorite songs and hymns. It was a beautiful weekend that will remain with me always. 

I have been so blessed to work with amazing colleagues over the years who have made my ministry possible and have been indispensable in helping me grow in my journey as a pastor and as a person. Many thanks to our staff and volunteers, past and present; you have all been an amazing team and I will cherish our time together! I give special thanks to Pastor Meredith Keseley for her encouragement, support and friendship. You have taught me SO much and it has been an honor to do ministry with you! 

I am grateful to the congregation council for all their enthusiasm and openness to new ideas and new ministry in our time together. The support of council and all of you have made it possible to start and to grow new opportunities to create community and to love and serve God and neighbor in our community. I give thanks to God for you and for the amazing ministry the Holy Spirit has in store for Abiding Presence in this next chapter. Go Go Holy Spirit!

Peace, Pastor Heidi 

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ENewsMeredith KeseleyPastor Heidi
Pastor Heidi's Farewell Message
Pastor Heidi's Farewell Message

Dear Abiding Presence Friends & Family,

Thank you for these amazing last four ½ years of ministry together. As I embark on this next part of my journey, I am beyond grateful for the gift of being your vicar and then one of your pastors, for the opportunity to get to know you and build relationships with you in the midst of life’s joys and sorrows. It has been a privilege to walk the way of Christ with you in my time at Abiding Presence.

Now we’ve come to a fork in the road and the time has come for me to take one way while you continue along the other. It is hard to say goodbye but I do so knowing that my farewell means you get to say hello to new ministry leaders and to new possibilities to grow as a community in Christ. Change is hard but it also necessary, nothing stays the same or else things would be stagnant and get awful boring! We may grumble about the cold of winter but without it, there wouldn’t be the glorious blooming of spring. It is the cycle of life, the cycle that makes it possible for new growth to happen in us and our world.

In order to make room for that new growth and for the new relationships you will be forming with new staff members, it is important that I say goodbye. Although I won’t be there for weddings, funerals, special events and celebrations in the future, know that I am praying for you and you will always have a special place in my heart.

In the near future, Ike and I will be staying the area while I await decisions from the grad schools to which I applied. I will let Pastor Meredith know about my future plans once they are in place so she can share the news with all of you. So, don’t be too surprised if you bump into me from time to time at the grocery store in the next few months or you hear my quite, shall we say, audible and distinctive laugh in a restaurant or coffee shop! I’ll be happy to see you and say hello. But, as is the tradition for any pastor who concludes a call, it is healthy and right for all of us that I say goodbye for you and I to keep walking the separate paths God has called us to follow, so you won’t be seeing me other than the occasional times out and about in the community. But I will be rooting you on as we follow our different journeys and I hope you will be rooting me on too!

So I say goodbye, a word that originally meant “God be with ye!.” God will indeed be with us, with you and with me, present every step of the way as we start this new step of our journeys. May we make space for the new growth God is planting in our lives and trust God’s abiding presence every step of the way. Go Go Holy Spirit! Amen.

Peace & Blessings,
Pastor Heidi
Pastor for Discipleship

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CoverMeredith KeseleyPastor Heidi
Mental Health Ministry Grant
Mental Health Ministry Grant

Earlier this year, our Mental Health Team partnered with NAMI-Northern Virginia, a local mental health organization, to submit a grant proposal to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) to expand our mental health ministry. I have exciting news, Abiding Presence has been awarded a $10,000 grant by the ELCA for our mental health ministry plan!  

The grant will allow our Mental Health Team to continue to make a difference by working with NAMI-Northern Virginia to do the following:  1. hire a part-time family support partner to work on-site with families navigating the mental health system; 2. offer a support class for family members of those mental illness at Abiding Presence and 3. Offer more events and training to educate, support and raise awareness in our community. These funds allow us to be able to offer childcare so that more people are able to attend and access these vital programs and resources.  

Our Mental Health Team has been engaged for the past three years in a ministry of welcome, accompaniment and hope for persons with mental illness and their loved ones. Our Mental Health Ministry has brought healing and hope and has changed lives. With this grant, we’ll be able to expand our partnership with NAMI-Northern Virginia and offer more events, trainings, classes and support in our congregation and community.  

Over 50 churches submitted proposals to the ELCA and Abiding Presence is one of the 25 churches chosen to receive funding.  We are grateful for this amazing opportunity to continue changing lives and bringing hope in our community! Stay tuned for more information in the coming weeks and contact Pastor Heidi or a member of the mental health team if you’d like to learn more or get involved! 

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CoverMeredith KeseleyPastor Heidi
Join a Small Group this Fall!
Join a Small Group this Fall!

What an amazing weekend of worship we had last weekend as we kicked off another year of ministry together! We had 120 kids in Sunday School, nearly 100 adults at the Abiding Table and 376 people in worship. We continue to love watching the Spirit work in and through all of you. 

At the end of the month we will be kicking off another congregation-wide small group experience. For those of you who have been around a bit, you will remember that we lifted up launching a congregation-wide small group ministry as an important part of the job description for our Pastor of Discipleship when we called Pastor Eickstadt last year. One of our 2018 goals as a congregation was to launch two sets of congregation-wide small groups. Last spring our first small group experience launched during Lent with great success with 45 people in 6 groups. Small groups help us live out our mission of Connecting People to Christ through Community by creating spaces for forming and deepening relationships with each other and which Christ.

The theme for our fall small groups will be “Gathered Around the Table: Fed & Forgiven.” We will be looking at Holy Communion and growing in our understanding of what happens each week when we gather around the Lord’s Table. In addition to our adult small groups that we will be studying this theme, we will be preaching on it in worship from September 29/30 through October 20/21. During that time our preschool, elementary and senior high Sunday School classes will be following a curriculum learning about Holy Communion, too. This really will be a congregation-wide time of learning and growing in our relationship with Christ and each other.

Unlike our Lent study, our fall small groups will not require you to read a book or prepare in any way. You just need to show up! Small groups will meet at leaders’ homes or at the church for five weeks, starting the week of September 23rd and running through the week of October 21st.  There are several opportunities to join a small group and we hope you will take a look and pick one to join by signing up here. If you don’t see a group at a time that works for you, please contact Pastor Eickstadt to talk about hosting one.

Sign up to join a small group, try it out and experience how God shows up when we gather around the table, at church and in the world! We cannot wait for our congregation to learn and grow together in our understanding of the sacrament of Holy Communion.

Blessings,

Pastor Keseley and Pastor Eickstadt

P.S. – If you have a child who would be interested in receiving their first Holy Communion this fall, please contact our Children and Family Minister, Sara Dyson. We welcome children to begin receiving Holy Communion at any age and at any time. For those families who would like the more formal “Rite of First Holy Communion” for their child, that will be available this fall as part of our “Gathered Around the Table: Fed & Forgiven” series.  

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CoverGuest UserAdults, Pastor Heidi, Pastor Keseley
Gather with a Small Group this Fall!
Gather with a Small Group this Fall!

Every week, we come forward and receive a bit of bread and a sip of wine or grape juice.  We call it Communion, the Lord’s Supper, the Eucharist…but what do all these names mean?  Why does it matter that we have it?  Is it just because it’s tradition, the way we’ve always done it?  And why do we have it every week?   

Maybe you’ve wondered about these same questions.  Maybe you grew up in a tradition that celebrated Communion differently and you wonder why we at Abiding Presence do it this way.  Maybe you grew up Lutheran but don’t quite recall those long-ago confirmation days and what Luther said about Communion in the Small Catechism.  Maybe you don’t even really know all that much about Luther and have never heard of a Small Catechism!  Don’t feel too bad if that’s the case because prior to joining the Lutheran church, I would have said yes to both of the previous questions!  (Even after attending Luther College!)

These are some of the questions many of us have had and which we’ll be exploring together in small groups this fall. The small groups will meet at various times at leaders’ homes or at the church for five weeks to listen, share and reflect.  We’ll explore the what, why and how but also the bigger question:  What difference does Holy Communion make for our everyday lives?

Specific small group times and places will be announced in September and sign-up sheets will be available in the narthex and on our website.  This will be our 2nd small group experience at Abiding Presence; our 1st was during Lent this past year and we had over 50 people participate in 6 small groups!  Unlike Lent, this experience will not require reading a book…all you will need to do is show up! 

So sign up and try it out for 5 weeks and experience how God shows up when we gather around the table!

Peace,

Pastor Heidi

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Extending Jesus' Table Into a Hungry World
Extending Jesus' Table Into a Hungry World

According to Fairfax County Schools, approximately 28 percent of students qualify for free and reduced-price meals.  That’s more than 1 in 4 students in our area whose families struggle to buy enough nutritious food to feed everyone.  Members of food insecure families worry about running out of food in their cupboards before their next paycheck and some even resort to eating less so that everyone in the family can be fed. 

How are we called to respond?

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CoverGuest UserPastor Heidi, Food, Local, Serve
Participate in Worship in a New Way!
Participate in Worship in a New Way!

Worship.  What images does that word bring to mind for you?  What words, what associations? 

Some of us may think about our favorite part of worship: the music, receiving communion, the prayers, or maybe, just maybe, even the sermon sometimes!

How do you see yourself, your purpose, your role in worship?  Is worship something we attend, like a concert or a play? Or is it something more?

Liturgy, the fancy word for worship, is a Greek word that means “the work of the people,” or “public service.”  Worship is not a passive activity but a gathering in which we all participate, we all have a role, whether it’s as a greeter, an usher, singing in the pews or up front, playing an instrument, lighting the candles, washing the communion ware or reading scripture. 

This fall, we will have a new opportunity for you to participate in worship at Abiding Presence.  I invite you to consider becoming one of our Assisting Ministers. Each Sunday service, one assisting minister will lead a few prayers, the Apostle’s Creed and will assist with communion. Our goal is to have enough assisting ministers that they would serve about 5 Sundays a year.

As Lutherans, we often speak of the priesthood of all believers, that we are all called to be part of God’s ministry: the hands and feet of God in the world.  Having assisting ministers will be a chance for us to visibly model in our service how we are all called, not just the pastors, to pray, proclaim our faith and serve God and others in our daily lives. 

Please prayerfully consider trying it out and contact Pastor Heidi if you’re interested or have any questions!

Peace,

Pastor Heidi

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