Farewell from Mother Offinger

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Dear All Saints' Family,

​The first sermon I ever preached from a pulpit was in All Saints' Church almost five years ago, on October 20, 2013, when I had just begun my time as your seminarian. This Sunday, October 7 at 10am, I will preach from that very same pulpit for the last time as a member of the pastoral staff, now a newly ordained priest.

Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for inviting me into your church, for walking with me as I have learned how to be a teacher, pastor, and preacher. Thank you for your faith, for your prayer, and for your love; you are all my role models in Christian life and community. You have strengthened my faith in God, and you have bolstered my hope for the Church and for the world.

Thank you for sticking around through my graduation from seminary, through my time running back and forth between All Saints' and St. Lydia's, through pounds gained and lost, names changed, and many different hair styles and colors! Thank you for welcoming my wife, Caitlin, with loving arms. We will miss you very much.

I hope that I will see each of you in church this Sunday, but know that I will carry you and All Saints' with me as I move into my new role at Grace Church in Manhattan. I hope that I can also leave with you, at the very least, the knowledge that All Saints' is a special place full of wonderful people. You are teachers, leaders, and models of Jesus' call to each of us. The world needs you now--going out into it and spreading the All Saints' love!

Your sister in Christ,
and with much love,
(Mother!) Julia

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