Grace and peace to you! I’m Sara Dick, associate pastor at Shalom Mennonite Church. I’m also a substitute teacher, a gardener, and a community dance organizer.

What ties these jobs together for me is that they all allow me to deepen my own experience of Christ’s love, and to share Christ’s love with others. No, I don’t pray at the beginning of gym class or talk about Jesus with the weeds I pull, but I hope that people can see a tiny glimmer of God’s love through the respect and care I show for (all God’s) people and for (all God’s) creation.

A big part of my ministry at Shalom is working with junior high and senior high youth, which is both a curse and blessing. “Curse” in that it highlights all the ways I lose patience or get bossy, and also all the ways we adults fail to show our children and youth what it means to follow Jesus and to really see Jesus in one another. “Blessing” in these exact same ways–ha!–plus the joy of seeing and celebrating the gifts that youth bring to the world and to church: music, humor, puberty, inquiry, insights, love, play.

I pray that you find new ways to follow Jesus, to be on the Way of truth and light in a community that supports, affirms and challenges you with love. If you decide to visit Shalom or, eventually, to become a regular part of Shalom, I pray that you might feel yourself at home with God in our midst. Blessings to you as you live fully into the calling to which you’ve been called!

-Sara Dick