Her curiosity about how we live into our community's connections with one another and with people on the margins gave me a new perspective on how her ministry and Creator's connected. This was a deeper, more crucial fit for a pastor and congregation.
One of the first things Emillie shared with us at the brunch during our first in person meeting was her love of tea. I was struck by how much sense that made given what we knew about Emillie. Tea's soothing and comforting properties mirror Emillie's calmness and relaxation in conversation. My apologies to my fellow coffee drinkers, but tea's associations, beyond the hospitality and the friendliness associated with both beverages, matches with the attributes we are looking for in a pastor. Starting with health we have a certain refinement, together with following the meaningful traditions and rituals around drinking tea while recognizing that alterations need to be considered as times to keep the rituals meaningful.
I have no doubt that many of us will soon find ourselves sharing a cup of tea with Emillie.
Her love of stories showed at this Meet and Greet. She began talking about her faith journey. What she said was truthful and unvarnished. She spoke without pretense. It did not feel scripted or adapting a story to match what we might have expected her to say and be She was unafraid to say she found, as a teenager, that church was judgemental. As result, by the time she was in college, she only went when she was going through rough spots in her life.
She told a story about how a Muslim friend of hers encouraged her at a conference to join Emillie's friends who were praying. Enillie ended up going with the idea of sitting in the back and leaving quickly. They were singing a familiar song to her . Yet that evening it affected her differently. As she heard Sinach's I Know Who I Am. it brought her sadness. She felt that she did not know who God said she was. The sadness overcome her. She felt unwanted and unloved.
After an hour she suddenly and intensely experienced God's presence wrapped around her and she instantly knew that God wanted her and that she was okay. From then on that knowledge became a constant in her life. I was drawn to this story because, like she has done before, she bridged these two experiences - these contradictory states within her. She felt and described the initial sting of not belonging and ended with the reassurance the song can give of a wonderful, discovered identity.
It was evident from her remarks that Emillie prefers to speak from the heart and is unafraid to speak to what she is experiencing at a present moment when she addresses a gathering. She and I talked about Abel and Cain earlier that afternoon and an hour later she related an important insight that she had distilled from our conversation in her Meet and Greet remarks,
After singing "You are Holy" Pastor Steve closed us in prayer with the observation that forms the title of this post. He invited Emillie up again and he prayed "Gracious God, these people need a pastor and this pastor needs a people and the wind of your spirit is blowing in this place.. And so we find we are at this juncture of these people, and this pastor, and of your spirit. We pray that spirit will be real to this congregation and this pastor.".
Indeed this was an evening with community sharing, singing, prayer and a potluck with conversations that continued to knit Emillie's future ministry together with Creator's ministry.
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