Advent Devotions

Today’s author is Prince of Peace’s Intentional Interim, Pr. Steve Sylvester. His final day of ministry was Sunday, September 6. We thank Steve for his gifts and wish him well as he ventures onward from Prince of Peace.

“If you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others?”
Matthew 5:47a

I’ve been tooting Prince of Peace’s horn since before I came to serve as your interim, dating back to June of 2023, when this congregation went out of its way and was so welcoming in hosting the funeral for our son Sam.  After I began my work as your interim pastor, I found much more to celebrate, and I have not only taken, but have looked for opportunities to sing your praises.  Now that I am concluding my blessed time with you, I want to tell you one more thing about you that I truly appreciate.

In 2003, our family uprooted from St. Paul, and moved to Dallas, Texas.  The move was especially difficult for Jennifer, a native Minnesotan.  It was a tough four years, because Dallas is, in my stock description when asked about it, “Flat, hot, dry and ugly.”  But the people of King of Glory Lutheran Church were marvelous.  Not a week went by when we were not invited out or to someone’s home for dinner, and friends and babysitters for the boys were always at the ready.  Jennifer and I both made good friends there, and twenty years later we are still in touch with many.  They were so welcoming, so kind.

When we returned to Minnesota in January of 2007, it was wonderful to experience snow again, and the change of the season to spring, which we really never experienced in Texas, was like sitting down to comfort food.  But we were both taken aback by the coolness of people.  In sixteen years, I think there were three couples from the church who extended dinner invitations to us.  I can remember many times seeing people clique up with friends in the narthex, while no one bothered to make their way over to Jennifer.  Worse, the choir, which… struggled, treated her as a goose among gray ducks.  Jennifer did her best to make inroads, but several months before I ended my tenure there, she finally gave up and moved on to St. John the Evangelist Episcopal Church in St. Paul, where she has been warmly welcomed, sings in the choir and has made several close friends.

I remember the first time Jennifer visited Prince of Peace during my time with you.  She came an hour early with me, and thinking she would have plenty of opportunity to work on the knitting project she brought along, she stationed herself on the couch in the back corner of the narthex. After worship she told me she didn’t do much knitting, because so many of you who saw her sitting there went out of your way to talk to her.  Most of you had no idea she was my wife, assuming she was just some “random lone woman” who should be welcomed.

Without knowing the background above, you gave us a wonderful gift, and it is a gift I have seen you give to many others as I have watched you extend yourselves to visitors.  Every congregation says they are “friendly,” and most are, well, wrong.  Hospitality, inclusion, welcome, those are such important things in these days of vanishing community.  That you resist that trend is one of the finest things about you, and it’s somethings for which I will forever be grateful.

Peace,
Steve

To watch all of Pastor Steve’s sermons, visit our YouTube page.