Near the beginning of 2020, when we contemplated a move across the country to come and serve Evergreen Presbyterian Church, the possibility of moving churches from Mississippi to Beaverton was a daunting thought. Even now, I find myself marveling that it worked. There were so many moving pieces that had to work out in order or us to come. Just to name a few very practical things:

1. I had to fly with my family during a time when the virus was very mysterious and unknown.
2. I had to preach to a lightly attended and socially distanced room of mysterious masked individuals.
3. I had to somehow convince these people that I could be pastoral and love them and their families from behind my mask.
4. I had to reckon with the fact that I would not (and in some cases still have not) met MANY families in the church. Some of those that I did meet back in June have not returned to worship yet.
5. How do you keep church members from feeling like this new pastor has been forced on them when the regular candidating process is being rewritten on the fly?
6. There would be a vote by the congregation. How does a church even vote? By the time the vote happened in July the whole church still had not met at once in one location.
7. How do I tell my church back in Mississippi that I am leaving when we loved each other and they were good to me?
8. How do I go before a Presbytery when large gatherings are prohibited in Oregon and Washington?
9. How do I do all of this traveling and flying, all the while making sure I don’t get sick so that nothing is delayed by a quarantine?
10. How does one move across the country during a pandemic?
11. How on earth do we manage to buy a house during a pandemic when houses are not really selling, and in a place where the house prices keep rising? Will people even let strangers walk through the house they’re selling?

The story has a happy ending, of course. But in the course of 2020 my family and I learned a few lessons, some silly, some serious:

1. We learned the value of a praying congregation and felt that God’s people here at our new home were praying for us.
2. We learned how hungry people are to be around other people during a pandemic.
3. We learned that hotels will let you take your dog cross country. Some places will charge you $20 extra, and some will charge you $75 extra. Learn which places charge you $75 before you book a stay with them!
4. It turns out, if every fast food place across the country (except Subway) is closed to in-person dining and you have a huge moving truck that won’t fit through the drive-thru, the drive thru attendants will take pity on you and let you walk through the drive thru.
5. We learned that we have a beautiful nation, and I was unexpectedly surprised by the beauty of driving through Wyoming, of all places.
6. We learned the generosity and extreme kindness of Evergreen church to show us hospitality by bringing us meals, even during a stressful time. We ate like royalty and didn’t have to cook for ourselves for almost 3 weeks.
7. I learned the incredible weight of leaving a church only to have four congregants that you deeply loved die within a few months. There is a special kind of guilt pastors feel even after they are no longer your pastor. In moments like this we have to put our belief in the calling and sovereignty of God into action.
8. We learned that sellers will, in fact, let your aunt walk through their house in Hillsboro while holding her phone and Facetiming you so you can see the house you’re about to buy without ever actually setting foot in it first.
9. We learned how stunning the Columbia River Gorge is while driving through it. It’s so pretty that it’s actually dangerous because the U-Haul driver keeps wanting to gawk.
10. I learned that the DMVs in Oregon are only taking appointments and that they have no open appointments anywhere.
11. In a related note I learned what it feels like to drive around on expired Mississippi tags. It actually feels pretty punk rock, to be honest.
12. I learned that after moving here I was so physically exhausted by the strain of moving that I had to take a nap every day for the first month and a half after arriving. I never realized the kind of strain I put on myself because the adrenaline of it all was so high, nor did I realize how long that stress can stay with you.
13. We learned that if God wants you to pastor Evergreen Presbyterian Church, then he will make all of the above worries evaporate like a mist.

There is so much more we could say in reflecting on this year. Perhaps it’s best for me to simply say how grateful we are to the Lord and to his people. For many folks 2020 has been terrible, and it almost feels tone-deaf not to acknowledge that. At the same time, for us 2020 has been an amazing adventure and a happy transition. I feel like we owe it to the Lord and to the church here at Evergreen to celebrate that and not keep it to ourselves. We do not help God’s people or those around us by refusing to share happy news with one another when we have it.

For our family, this has been a good year. My family is constantly telling me how happy they are to be here and how at home they feel in this new place, with this new school, and with this new church family and friends that we are still getting to know. I want to thank our new church family here at Evergreen for your love, for your prayers, and for your desire to honor and love the Lord in this new season of our life and the church’s life. You have been an incredible blessing to us.

Yours in Christ,

Pastor Parker