A Decade

Pastor’s Annual Report, A.D. 2018 B

This summer marks a personal milestone for your pastor: a decade of ministry here at St Peter’s in New York Mills.

When we first arrived here, in our late twenties, my wife and I were new at everything. We were new at marriage, new at parenthood, new at home-owning, and still fairly new at ministry. Other than our stints as vicars in New England, we had both served as associate pastors in Fargo and Moorhead. We had one kid, not quite a year old, and I was still adjusting from East Coast urban to upper Midwest. I didn’t even know to keep my water softener filled with salt.

A lot has happened in 10 years. We’ve welcomed two more children, and somehow ended up with a pair of dogs that still won’t leave. My wife has served several parishes in the area, helping congregations recover from rough times, while here at St Peter’s we’ve paid off our building loans, dramatically remodeled our basement, grown a large and thriving Youth Group, replaced the roof, established and refined a three-year Confirmation curriculum, offered dozens of Adult Formation classes, celebrated every holiday I can think of, sent delegations to the National Lutheran Youth Gathering, and deepened our life of worship together.

And what’s great about all that is just how little it had to do with me. I’m not being glib.

All those things above were made possible by the Holy Spirit at work in this congregation. They are the result of hundreds of hands, of the blood, sweat, and tears of sainted sinners gathered together beneath this roof to worship and serve the Lord together. I didn’t remodel that basement; you did. I didn’t build up the Youth Group or work each night with our Confirmands to study Scripture and pray daily at home; you did. You, the people of St Peter’s, stitched the quilts and gathered the funds and assembled the care packages and filled up our Angel Tree. You set the Altar for worship every Sunday, not me. You read the Scriptures and chant the Psalms and sing the hymns and welcome the stranger with coffee and food and fellowship. And you do all of this, week in and week out, without grumbling or complaint, for whosoever cares to attend.

You give of your time, your talents, and your treasures. You bring your enthusiasm to Halloween and Twelfth Night. You bring your questions and contributions to our Christian education. You teach our children of all grades in Sunday School. You provide the example to your family and friends that worship is a priority. You Confess your sins, and receive Absolution, and go out into the world to be Christ for a cosmos still very much in need of Him. And we do all of this together, as one, just as Christ prayed we would be.

On top of which, we baptize our children and marry our spouses and bury our dead, here as the Body of Christ, day in and day out, season by season and year by year. And one day you look up and suddenly a decade has passed: a decade of living as Christians sustained by grace in this remarkable place. And we look back, with that peculiar mixture of humility and pride, to marvel at what all Christ has done for the people of New York Mills through St Peter’s Lutheran Church, and through each and every one of you.

And just so you know, I can now mow a lawn and catch a fish and sit up in my deer stand with a bow, and my wife and I can almost—but not quite—manage to hold it all together while raising three kids and preventing our house from burning down. (It only really caught on fire that once.) We’re not the same people who moved here a decade ago. I’m at least slightly less stupid. Hey, give me a few more decades and I might really get the hang of this whole clergy thing.

Thank you for all of your love and support. We, the Stouts, never could have gotten through the last 10 years without your patience, your guidance, and your willingness to look after small children. We thank God for you.

Here’s to the next 10 years.