Change is a Constant
By Pastor Dan Robinson
“For everything there is a season…” (Ecclesiastes 3:1)
As I write this, the sun is pouring through the window in my office on a warm day in February. So far, we’ve mostly had an “old fashioned winter” this season, with lots of snow and cold. But the weather changed, as it usually does, and almost all the snow and ice are gone after a few days of warmer temperatures.
But the weather will change again, and again… that seems to be the way that God made the world, with change built right in. We move from winter to spring to summer and fall, changing with the seasons. Our lives are filled with seasons, too, and the time will come when each of those seasons will change into a new season.
We at Pilgrim are entering a new season with the change of our staff. Sandra Ives, after 12 years as the Office Manager, is finishing up her work here at the church. She’s choosing to make a change of her own, and while I’m excited for her as she moves into the next stage of her life, I’m sad to see her go. She has done excellent work during this past year as I started at Pilgrim, and for that I’m very grateful. She goes with our love and our prayers, as well as with our invitation to always connect with us in the future.
Change, of course, always brings in something - or in this case, someone - new. And so I’m pleased to announce that we have hired a new Office Manager to fill that role. Deb Romaneschi, who, along with her husband JD, has recently joined Pilgrim, and will be serving as Pilgrim’s part-time Office Manager. She starts that role on Monday, February 23, so when you see Deb, please give her a big welcome as our church’s Office Manager.
Deb has a lot of office experience, having worked for a few different municipalities. But she also has experience working as a church Office Manager and with working with me - she is the part-time Office Manager at Zion UCC St. Joe, the other church where I serve as pastor.
Change is never completely smooth and simple, so I ask for your patience and help as we work out new schedules and new ways of doing things. For now, Deb’s schedule will be 12:30-3:30 Mondays through Thursdays. My office hours will change slightly, at least for now, and I’ll be at Pilgrim on Mondays, 12 Noon-3:00 PM and Wednesdays, 9:00 AM-12 Noon.
Sandra has been a “Jill-of-all-trades” over the years, accomplishing lots of different tasks. So, if there is something she has done in the past for you, and you would like that to continue, please let me know. I can’t promise it will continue. But we want to be on top of the good work that’s been done, and then make the best decisions we can about what will be done in the future.
Finally, then, I send a heartfelt “thank you” to Sandra for all her faithful years of serving this community, as well as a hearty “welcome” to Deb as she moves into the Office Manager role.
Pilgrim has experienced a change in pastors over the last year-and-a-half, and now a change in office managers. But one thing remains constant… the love of God for all of us. It’s that love that can bring hope and peace in any season.
