Abiding in Christ in Every Season
Dear La Côte Church friends and family, as I prepare to say farewell, I do so with deep gratitude and real sadness at leaving a community that has been such an important part of our lives for sixteen years.
My family and I have been deeply blessed by your warmth, kindness, faith and generosity. Thank you for welcoming us into your lives, sharing our joys and challenges, and standing alongside us through the years. We shall carry many precious memories with us, and we treasure the friendships we have made.
This beautiful place, with its vineyards stretching towards Lac Léman, has become woven into my story, just as all our stories have been stitched together into the living fabric of La Côte Church.
In John’s Gospel, Jesus says, “I am the vine; you are the branches” (John 15:5). As I face this farewell, these words remind me that, although our paths may now lead in different directions, we remain connected in Christ. Jesus commands his followers to remain in him, and so to remain in love. We draw our life and strength from him, and it is by abiding in his love that we bear fruit.
As La Côte enters a new season, I encourage you to keep this command at the heart of your journey together. Paul’s prayer for the Ephesians, echoes this picture of abiding in love. He writes:
“I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth takes its name. I pray that… you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love.” (Ephesians 3.14-17).
Being rooted and grounded in love, Paul then calls us to live with humility, gentleness and patience, “bearing with one another in love” (Ephesians 4:2). May I encourage you as a beloved community, to keep praying, welcoming, serving and caring for one another. May you also keep looking beyond yourselves to our wider world, to discover God’s loving hand at work and inviting you to join in. Your future does not depend on one leader, but on Christ, who remains your true vine. Trust him to nourish this community and bring new growth as you abide in love.
We shall miss you and this place greatly, but we leave with thankful hearts and with confidence in God’s faithfulness for you and for us. Wherever he leads us, may we abide in Christ, in his love.
With our deep gratitude and much love,
Carolyn
As we celebrate the natural beauty around us, may I encourage you to pray daily for the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (UNCBD) COP17 taking place in Yerevan, Armenia, from 19 – 30 October.
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