On Sunday, May 26, we wished Tanja Helmert, our church family member, Farewell and Godspeed! For the past school year, Tanja has worked with Pastor Josh and members of the congregation as a Yale Divinity School-supervised ministry intern. We appreciate all that she has done for Christ the Good Shepherd Lutheran and wish her the best. A special coffee hour was held in her honor following the morning worship service.
Read Pastor Josh’s message below.
Pastor Josh presents Tanja with an alb vestment.
A message from Pastor Josh…
It was with heavy hearts and smiling faces that Christ the Good Shepherd bade farewell to our part-time intern Tanja Helmert on Sunday, May 26th, as she departed for a new chapter of her life and ministry in Santa Barbara, California.
In the spring of 2024, Tanja graduated from Yale Divinity School with her Masters of Divinity, and not too many months before this—thanks to the prayerful discernment of our whole congregation—our congregational council voted to lift up Tanja to our regional synod (New England) as having the gifts and calling necessary to pursue the Ministry of Word and Sacrament in our denomination (the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America).
Tanja first came to our community simply as a graduate student at Yale, thirsty for a community where she could hear God’s word preached, share in the sacraments and find meaningful, spiritual fellowship with other Lutherans. But it wasn’t long before she and I discerned that she was indeed being called by the Holy Spirit to a pathway that would perhaps lead her to ordained ministry! She has contributed so much to our growing community over the past year, leading worship and classes, updating our website, and all along providing us prophetic and justice-centered ministry insights in Christ’s name.
Please continue to lift up Tanja in your prayers as her pathway to ordination has turned out to have quite a few twists and turns. We are confident that wherever she ends up, and whatever she is doing, she will be doing her best, and she will be serving God, too.
Tanja’s Farewell Reception