Friends,
It is with both excitement and sadness that I write you this letter today.
This summer, I will be transitioning to a new position as the Pastor of Leander United Methodist Church. Kylea, Oliver, and I are very excited about this new opportunity and look forward to getting to know this community of faith. We are also grieving our loss in that we will be leaving a community of faith that has meant so much to us for so many years. Even so, we know that, in this faith, life is often found even in loss and challenge. We are confident that G-d has called us, goes before us, and remains with us in this new appointment.
I am also confident that G-d continues to go before and remains present with you. I cannot adequately express my gratitude for the community that I have found at AHUMC. I began attending our daughter church, Riverside, in 2008. It was there that I discovered the depth of love that comes in community. It was also there that I discerned a call to vocational ministry. I came on staff at AHUMC in May of 2010. Since then, I have had the opportunity to serve beside you in so many different ways. The experiences here have been amazing, and that's because of the ways that you attempt to transform the world.
I have worked to provide food, aid, and dignity to our poorest neighbors. I have traveled the world to share love and grace with people of all cultures. I have played with the children of San Antonio, Mexico, Costa Rica, Israel, and Africa. I have resourced local non-profits. I have visited hospitals, buried people I love, married people I’ve helped raise, and become friends with so many of you. I have met my wife here. I have raised my son here.
You, my friends, have shaped and formed me. And you have shaped and formed my family. The love that you have shared with us is of immeasurable value, and for that, I am deeply grateful. G-d has called you together, and it is you and your partnership with the divine that make this church an amazing piece of G-d’s grand vision to reconcile all things. G-d has called us together so that we might realize that in love, we are all one. And though we may feel a distance between us, that oneness holds us together.
I will miss you. But we are one. You will remain with my family just as I know that G-d will remain with us. And we will remain with you.
My last Sunday at AHUMC will be June 2. I have faith that G-d has called this community together and that the future of AHUMC and the Modern Service will be full of fruit and full of love.
The Lord bless you and keep you.
The Lord shine radiance upon you and be gracious to you.
The Lord lift the very face and gaze of divinity on you.
And give you peace.
And give you shalom.
Shalom, my friends,
Rev. Ryan Jacobson
