It’s hard to believe, after many months of planning, that we’ve begun. I rolled into town on May 23, and I’m writing this on what is my second day in the office on May 25. This all started with an email I received from the region last November asking if I might be interested in considering Hazelwood. Now, six months later, it’s a reality. I have so many people to thank. The search committee and staff have done so many things to make this real. They’ve worked out details and taken care of documents I needed, so many thanks to you all. I’m thankful to Jeane Garrett who has provided me a place to stay for the short time before I’m in my house. I’m thankful to all of you for carrying the hope of what is yet to be here among us in our work together.
We have so much to learn about one another, but the one thing I have heard already is hope. What the future is will be a story yet to be written, but I look forward to that future in hope. I believe Hazelwood Christian Church is a church where God has things yet to do, and so I’m hoping for what that future might be. Over time we’ll journey into that hope together. I asked the Search Committee, during the interview process, what the next chapter in Hazelwood’s history might be titled, and they mentioned A New Hope (which is–Star Wars fans would know–the subtitle for the original Star Wars movie). We step into that new hope now, and I can’t wait to see what God might do among us.
Grace & peace,
Rev. Jason Jones
