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We regularly like to give our very busy Stated Clerk a small break and have a member of Presbytery Council write an article for the Bi-Weekly Brief. For this edition we are grateful to the Rev. Brenna Overland, Pastor Bay City-First and one of our Pastor to Pastors.
It’s 1am and the lights are off in my bedroom. I just finished feeding our new son when I remembered that I had to finish this article. As I look at the helpless baby next to me I am often struck by how much we are alike. As much as I want to think that I am somehow I am self-sufficient and capable, the truth is that I need help just as much as he does, perhaps even more so. After all, he at least knows how to ask for help when he needs it, where I try to push it down and pretend I can do it all by myself.
This job, our culture, can make us think that we are supposed to carry the weight of this call alone. That asking for or needing help is weak and a failure. After all, this is what we chose to do, right?
But my friends we were never meant to do this job alone. To carry congregations on our backs and in hearts without helping hands. We were meant to do this together, with God, in community, with people who could and would see our own need and in the midst of the needs of others.
So my prayer is this: that you would know without a doubt that God hear your cries. The world can feel cold and overhelping, but I hope that when you are up in the middle of night, when the thoughts won’t let you rest and the tears feel unending, you remember are never alone. Like a mother with her infant, God hears our cries, wraps us in arms of comfort, and offers a love that soothes our weary soul.
If you are feeling overwhelmed, tired, or lonely please don’t hesitate to reach out. We are here to walk with you as friends in ministry and in life.
In Christ,
Rev. Brenna Overland
Pastor to Pastors
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