Here I wait

In early October 2025, I was invited to a “financial update meeting.” There, I was notified that some of the leadership of my last congregation had decided to recommend to the church council and congregation that my call be terminated due to a financial crisis. By the end of November, I had resigned and said my goodbyes.

After five months, I recognize that my period of unemployment has proven exceedingly difficult in many ways, but there were signs of hope too – especially discovered through faithful family and friends, and particularly my wife, Kristine. I also committed to volunteer and serve wherever I could, not just to stay busy or distracted, but to best live into the hopeful future that I trusted God placed before me. Last but not least, these five months proved a time of self care, reflection and study. This period became a desert period, an exercise in radically trusting the Lord where I learned much more about God, myself and the Church.

On Palm Sunday, March 29, 2026, the congregation of Grace and Glory Lutheran Church in Palmyra, Virginia, called me as their new pastor. I start tomorrow, May 1, 2026, (The formal installation date will be announced soon.) I am overjoyed to be serving their congregation, especially within its rural, small congregational setting, one which I historically have dearly loved and enjoyed. This year also happens to be Grace & Glory’s 25th anniversary, a great time for communal renewal.

Before I arrived at Grace & Glory, I was invited to send a short pastoral letter for inclusion in their monthly newsletter. The result below, written before my start date, reflects my recent experience and wisdom hopefully gained, but it also speaks of our shared story and call as believers.

I want to thank all those who supported me during this time of transition through prayer, kind words and notes of encouragement, and many other forms of concrete assistance. I wish to give a special, public thank you to the person who anonymously mailed gifts to my wife and me monthly over this entire time. Your mailings were an encouragement and became yet another sign that a springtime would surely come. I also found respite and inspiration through the ministries and pastoral care offered at the Church of the Messiah Episcopal (Spotsylvania County) with The Reverend Kyle Tomlin as Rector and at St. Peter’s Lutheran Church (Stafford County) with The Reverend Paul Toelke as Pastor. Thank you one and all, and thanks be to God!

Lord, you establish peace for us; all that we have accomplished you have done for us. (Isaiah 26:12)

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! As I write this pastoral letter, I have recently been called to Grace & Glory Lutheran Church as your next pastor – and yet, I am not yet there! There’s a tension in life between what is and what might be, and this can signify a difficulty or joy common to life – change. Yet striving to be a good Lutheran, here I wait. 

And what am I doing while I am waiting? I am praying for wisdom, strength, and direction as I enter this new leadership role as your pastor and friend. I am starting to coordinate my arrival and first steps with your leadership team. I am gathering necessary items, considering topics for potential lessons and retreats, plus I am considering potential community contacts and partnerships as I study Fluvanna County from afar. I am intending to hit the ground running, but while I wait, I continue to volunteer and serve with law enforcement, my local hospital, and in other ways.

Still, I recognize and have experienced that waiting can be painful, too. It involves sorrowful goodbyes, changed plans, and unexpected bumps in the road. Such times also invite us to be patient. We wait on the Lord to make our paths straight, and we walk on even though we might not yet see clearly. There can be fear of the unknown or “what-ifs” that run through our head. Still, Jesus calls us forward in faith anyway. It is during a time of “now but not yet,” expectantly waiting for Jesus’ return that we people of faith wait.

What shall we do while we at Grace & Glory wait? In light of our celebration of twenty-five years and as I simultaneously arrive as your newest pastor, I’m changing the lyrics of a favorite song, While I’m Waiting, just a bit to reflect our shared path: “And [we] will move ahead bold and confident; Taking every step in obedience; While [we are] waiting [we] will serve You; While [we are] waiting [we] will worship; While [we are] waiting [we] will not faint; [we] will be running the race even while [we] wait. This echoes the faith encouraged by Hebrews 12:1.

We have much to celebrate in our shared history as a congregation. We have much to rejoice about in our present. With whatever happens, we can be hopeful for God loves us. Echoing the words of John Henry Newman, we are but links in a chain, a bond of connection between persons. Yet, God has not created us for naught. Here we wait…as we watch, as we walk, as we hope…because even as we sleep, God is awake and at work.

I give God thanks for all those that have labored to help move Grace & Glory to this point in our history. I bless and thank Pastor Strong for his loving and able care of Grace & Glory as interim pastor and for all your past pastors. I thank you for your commitment, stewardship and welcome. With as much as God has accomplished, I struggle to wait to see what God will do next!

© 2026 The Rev. Louis Florio. All content not held under another’s copyright may not be used without permission of the author unless under terms of fair use and properly attributed. Scripture passages when used are from the NRSVue translation unless otherwise indicated.