Pastor’s Annual Report to the Congregation
Windsor United Church of Christ, 2020

When I first saw this lovely building and talked with the Search Committee about what God might have in store for us, I was convinced that 2020 was going to be a very good year indeed.   

We made plans for the weekend of March 22nd–time for our families to meet, time to sit together and to share a meal, time for questions and answers, time to get to know one another–but then the pandemic disrupted our plans and not for the last time. 

We rescheduled for the weekend after Easter, April 19th, planning to meet outdoors so at least we could be together in the same place at the same time. Alas, COVID-19 disrupted these plans as well. Undeterred, the Search Committee arranged for us to meet online and the congregation worked together to conduct a vote on-line.  

It’s startling how faith works, isn’t it?  How God’s timing defies our plans and how the Holy Spirit calls us into unexpected and uncharted territory. It was an amazing thing for God to call us together in 2020. We are all wondering what God has in store for us in 2021.  

We hope and pray the vaccine will reach us so we can safely congregate again (and for the first time :-).  When this time finally comes, it will be time to celebrate. There will be babies to baptize, loved ones to mourn, a Sunday School to reopen, new people to welcome, and new opportunities to serve God by taking care of our neighbors. 

I continue to be amazed by the strength and resilience of the congregation.  These hard times have not shaken our belief that our congregation is a light in dark times, nor diminished our commitment to minister in Christ’s name. 

I would like to especially thank Roger Stoltenberg, Chair of  the Search Committee, and Terry Anderson, our Moderator, for their tireless and faithful work; Aaron Lissowe for his technological skills and generous support of the worship life of the congregation; and our staff, Barb Varner for her brightness and know-how, and David Schipper for his nurture of the music ministries of the congregation.  Thank you also to the members of the Search Committee and their families for the extraordinary effort that went into bringing us together during these unprecedented times: KJ Busse, Denny Dobson, McKenna Kelsey, Karen Meylor-Miller, Jon Rouse, Matt Sutherland, and Kit Thomsen.  

Yours in Christ,
Pr. Craig Jan-McMahon