A Note From Pastor

To my family in Christ at Advent,

Grace to you and peace in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

I wish to thank you all for your love, care, and support in these challenging times. I wish to thank you also for your prayers, and to ask for your continued prayers as I heal and recover. My mental health has not been great lately, and my symptoms became severe to the point that I was advised to take an immediate stress leave. If only our mental health understood the liturgical calendar! It makes me sad to miss my first Advent with you, Advent, and I am especially sad to not serve with you this Christmas. As you prepare your hearts for our coming Saviour; as you welcome the Christ-child born in you this Christmas, please know that I am with you in spirit, and God is with you.

I imagine that news of my leave may cause some anxiety within the congregation about the (immediate) future of the office of pastor at Advent. Please know that I am eager to return to you, to continue to serve as your pastor, to continue to build our relationships, and to journey in faith together. Having said this, I know that I must focus on myself and my own healing right now so that I can serve you well in the long run. After conferring with my doctor, we do not know how long I will need, though we anticipate my leave will need to continue into January at the very least.

I encourage you all to be kind with yourselves and with one another. I encourage you to take care of yourselves and your own mental health.

Hear these words from the apostle Paul, words that I pray for you as well:

"I pray that, according to the riches of God's glory, God may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through the Spirit, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love. I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to our God who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, to God be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen. "(Ephesians 3:16-21)

In Christ,
Pastor Aaron