Message from the Pastor - The Itinerant Journey

In the United Methodist Church pastors are itinerant. This means that they are willing to uproot themselves and go where sent on a moment’s notice, or a month’s notice, or possibly two or three. They are willing to do so, to go where sent, to journey forth, whether an itinerary exists or not.

When writing about “The Itinerant Journey,” African American scholar and Methodist preacher Renita Weems has this to say:

“Normally, someone who just takes off on a journey with no earthly idea where she is going is called a vagabond, a bum, a Gypsy. But I am called a Reverend.”

When District Superintendent Michelle Hargrave asked me to consider meeting with the Leadership Team at the United Methodist Church of Northfield, I nodded, I sighed. I had an earthly idea as to where I was going. I didn’t need Google Maps to find my way.

Minnesota is a big state, and there are many places that I have not traversed. Yet there are two areas I know relatively well – the Twin Cities – where I lived and worked for over half of my adult life – and southeastern Minnesota, where I grew up, where three of my four siblings live, and where I have served in ministry for five years.

As I begin this itinerate journey with you, one might ask, “So, what is your itinerary?”

Entering this ministry and mission field – as all pastors are appointed not only to a congregation, but also to the community in which the congregation resides – my itinerary is three-fold:

1. to learn your names and hear your stories;

2. to discern where God’s Spirit is already at work in your midst – because God’s Spirit is already at work in your midst; and

3. to collaborate with you to follow God’s leading to be a vibrant Methodist presence in this place (inside and outside our doors).

Yet it is not my itinerary – or even yours – that we follow. It is God’s, and God takes us in directions we may never imagine.

I  look forward to this journey with you and getting to know each and every one of you by name.

Donna