Interim Pastor Announced!

Dear Friends & Members of Old First,

We are pleased to welcome our Interim Pastor, Jane Ann Groom, who will be joining us at Old First as of October 1st.

Below is a letter from Pastor Groom:

Dear Congregation of Old First,
 
What a double delight for me to come home to live in Brooklyn after a long stint working all over the place and to be invited into your lives as your interim pastor. Thank you for this privilege and adventure. May Holy Spirit bless us with curiosity, creativity, and community.
 
I understand how sad you are to say goodbye to Pastor Meeter and family. Important in interim ministry is holding space for a grieving congregation. Grieving cannot be given short shrift; saying goodbye to a beloved pastor is no small matter. Celebrating the past, grieving what you miss, letting go, and opening up to new possibilities describe the work to which we are called. My role is companion for the journey through this in-between time, made more complex by COVID and our need to be virtual for a while. I aim to be a supportive sojourner with you in this liminal period as well as a challenging presence sometimes, inviting you outside your comfort zones.  Who is Old First without your beloved former pastor?  What is your calling in this next chapter? 
 
Bill and I call a little house in Boerum Hill and a small cabin in the Catskills home. Cats Leo and Ruby Rose complete the household.  Our adult sons live in the city.  Like Bill, they work in the film business.  Both businesses, film and church, have this in common: we tell stories. We are storytellers. In the case of church, we tell the story in word and deed of God-with-us.  All that we do as church, we measure by how well we tell that story so that others will hear and taste and trust and be blessed. May God give us wisdom and joy in the telling. 
 
Warmly,
Pastor Jane Ann