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Dear beloved First Church community,

At long last, hello! I am sending love to each of you from this side of the motherhood threshold, where baby Juniper has just turned five months old. We have traversed worlds together as a little family in these last months, and I have been so grateful for the blessing of this time to devote myself to motherhood and its unfolding becomings. Even as my world has transformed, I’ve thought of you all so often and wondered how you are doing in these seasons of the so-muchness of life: joy and fear and grace and grief, all at once. I am so looking forward to reconnecting on November 23rd, when I’ll return to church with you all.

This time has also been a time of discernment for Aram and me, and I’m writing today to share the bittersweet news that we are plotting a move to Maine in early 2026. Aram, who, as many of you know, is also a pastor, has an opportunity to expand his work as Lead Pastor of Edgecomb Community Church in midcoast Maine, a move that will allow me to spend this next year focusing on mothering Juniper and deepening my offerings of spiritual accompaniment and direction for all life stages. And I have dreams of planting a woods church, where community gathers to embody and honor incarnational divinity in all its forms.

While I am excited for what awaits us in Maine, it is also a decision full of heartache for me because it means leaving the Boston area, where I have such strong roots, and ending my time with you all as your Pastoral Associate. I am so grateful for all that the last two years have held; it has been a gift to learn to pastor alongside you, to be part of this community in the vulnerability and possibility of pastoral transition, and to feel how the Spirit moves among and through you in a million ways. And you all, in turn, have loved me through so many life thresholds! I will deeply miss being in this role with you, and look forward to the ways our paths may continue to weave.

My last day at First Church will be Sunday, January 11th, and in the intervening weeks, I’ll be making some time available for visits with anyone who would like to sit together, in person or on Zoom, and share some time before I leave this role. You can sign up here.

Friends, you have been so with me in this time. Juniper and I have spent many a tummy time session on the gorgeous quilt designed by our young people and stitched with love by so many of you. We have been so blessed with your presence and prayers – I can feel it! And I am so looking forward to having some weeks of reconnection before my time at First Church in Cambridge comes to an end.

With deep love and gratitude,
Emma