Dear Glen Mar,

It is with a heavy heart that I share with you the passing of our beloved member Peggy Fisher. Her family will have a service for family only at a local funeral home and a more public Celebration of Life later in the summer to which the church will be invited. Peggy was such a longtime, faithful member of our church, and I had the privilege to visit her just a few days before her passing. We talked about recent sermons, empty nest advice, the importance of racial equality, and her love of Glen Mar church. Her obituary is here, and you may recognize the picture from a Glen Mar church directory. You will note that the family requests donations, in lieu of flowers, to some great causes that Peggy loved—one of which is Glen Mar Church. https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/baltimoresun/obituary.aspx?n=peggy-fisher&pid=198872749&fhid=6006. If you’d like to send a card to Peggy’s family, send it to our church and we will make sure it gets to them.

I also spent some time this evening with Chris and Kim Wiley and Chris’ brothers, Steve and Tim. You may recall that their parents, also beloved saints of Glen Mar, Mary and Tom Wiley, passed in 2020. Because of the pandemic, they couldn’t have a gathering to honor their parents’ lives and mourn their passing, so they are planning a Celebration of Life for them both. It will be at 1 pm on June 19 right here at Glen Mar Church. I hope you will come to the service (with your mask) to honor these saints also, members of our church since at least 1965. The family will greet folks at 12:30 at Glen Mar, and a reception will follow the service at a local fire hall. If you knew Mary and Tom, I hope you can join us for the service and the reception also. If you’d like to send a card to the Wiley’s, and don’t have their address, send it to our church and we will make sure it gets to them.

There are other beloved saints of Glen Mar that have gone recently to be with the Lord, and whose families we continue to lift in prayer and love (the Joneses, the Kermisches, and others).

I know I haven’t been your pastor very long, but I was a Glen Mar member well before I was anyone’s pastor, and these are the people who I met early on (Paul, Howdy, Mary, Tom, Peggy and so many others) who welcomed me into our fellowship, and who modeled, in their faith, hope and love, what being a Christian looks like. I know that they inspire me to grow in my faith, generosity and commitment to Glen Mar and to Christ. They have moved from labor to reward, from this life to life eternal. We carry on their legacy of love and faithfulness. May we be worthy of who they taught us to be. May we come to know the God that they knew, and take our faith as seriously as they did. I shall always be grateful for the gift of knowing them.

Come to worship this weekend…we will celebrate Pastor Anna’s ministry with us and send her to her new appointment in Lexington Park with prayer and song. We will share in Holy Communion. We’ll study God’s word and get equipped to serve. It’s how saints are made, as it turns out.

See you in Church,
Pastor Mandy