A Fond Farewell

Dear Family in Christ, 

Mother Liz Meade will be spending her last Sunday with us this weekend on September 11. Be sure to come and wish her well!  It hardly seems possible that her two-year interim rector term with us is ending. She led us through so many difficult situations—situations dominated by the Covid epidemic that at the time seemed like they would go on forever.

When Mother Liz arrived in September 2020, we couldn’t even have services inside the church—they were all online. We emerged to parking lot services – with an especially memorable windy Palm Sunday! Then the “baby steps” followed as we returned to indoor worship with one Sunday service, and gradually blossomed into what we have now.

On that long path we benefited from Mother Liz’s leadership in navigating the new and evolving Diocesan rules. Doing the business of the church and taking care of St. Timothy’s was especially challenging in an interim situation during Covid. Remember that first online Annual Meeting?

At one point Mother Liz wrote to Vestry, “I know that many of you are tired and stressed. I am, too. But I know this:  God is here. God has not gone anywhere, and God will never leave or forsake us…Stay the course, and look carefully for what God is doing among us, because God is being glorified in all that we do at St. Timothy’s.”

I’m sure that many of us have our own special memories of Mother Liz.  Mine include her constant reminders that we are still doing church, but in new ways.  She provided wonderful pastoral care and counsel to individuals in need. Her funeral services have a special beauty about them.  I appreciated the online Bible studies when she included religious paintings to illustrate the stories.  I liked the memorable teaching she did in her sermons, and her closing blessing reminding us to be swift to love and make haste to be kind.

So now it really is good bye, because church rules say that interims are not to check back or stay in touch. Mother Liz, you got this church ready for a new rector. We offer you the biggest possible thank you, our love, and a fond farewell as you travel to Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, to become a settled rector there. I thank God for the blessing of having you at St. Timothy’s.

Faithfully,
Joy Rouse
​Senior Warden