By Alex Eriksen
The First Presbyterian Church on Clark Street in Brooklyn Heights has seen a few pastors in 188 years, and today it is losing yet another. Beth Waltemath is giving her last sermon as associate pastor. She’s leaving in three days for a church in Georgia
where she and her husband will be co-pastors.
The choir sings “This Little Light of Mine” accompanied by piano, drums and bass.
Everyone is smiling and shaking hands before the service begins. A man with snow-white hair grasps a stranger’s hand and says, “It’s a blessed morning!”
There are about a hundred people in attendance: families mostly, a few young couples. The choir finishes singing and the sermon begins. Waltemath appears behind the pulpit and looks down at her congregation. The stole she wears matches her yellow hair.
Amidst the uprooting of her adult life she’s still found time to write a full sermon.
This is the last she will ever address the people with whom she’s spent over seven years. The sermon lasts for about an hour and is tied to her favorite Biblical passage — John 4:18: “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.”
She admits perfect love is a tough concept to get one’s head around but asks her congregants to try. It’s her answer to a tough question: “why are you leaving us?” She speaks about it directly; telling them it was a difficult decision but feels that leaving is part of God’s plan. It was her decision to leave. The church in Georgia requested she come and she accepted. She doesn’t have to go but she is.
At the reception afterwards it’s a mixture of happiness and sorrow, celebrating a life and accepting the end of things. Congregants tell her how much they’ll miss her.
Some of them are too choked with tears to speak. Waltemath asks for a hug from everyone in the room. All of them oblige.
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