Sara Thompson

Hello! This is my story.

I’ve been a member of first church since November of 2023. I grew up in a congregational church, was active in the youth groups, and was on the pastoral search committee. I attended Silver Lake Conference Center multiple summers and I just like being in church. When my children were in elementary school I thought I really wanted them to experience what church had to offer and begin to understand perhaps their own spirituality.  It was another church that was quite large and maybe too large for me I had a harder time making connections there we didn’t stay long.

Three and a half years ago I found out I had stage four appendix cancer – a cancer diagnosis that one in 2 million people get. There is limited research on this cancer, including its behavior and treatment options.  I had a long surgery and six months of chemotherapy, and my oncologist told me overall survivability at five years was 7 to 14%. I was scared I felt a sense of urgency to get back to my church roots and to work on my faith and try and tamp down my fear.

During this search I found out that Rev. Fredd was working at First Church as the senior interim pastor. I’ve heard him speak in another program and when he spoke there was always complete silence in the room, as everybody knew we were about to hear something helpful, something wise, and something relatable so that’s when I decided to check out First Church and that was August of 2023.

I felt warmly welcomed here—everyone was kind and helpful. I appreciate this church’s history and the many opportunities to serve, both inside and outside the congregation. After decades in healthcare, I know helping others is rewarding for everyone involved. This church is open, affirming, and safe; I’ve always believed all people should be loved. I became proud to call it my church and pastor, grateful to belong somewhere so positive.

I started to understand the scripture probably for the first time because the interpretation was relatable and it was contemporary and finally made sense. I was taking the message from the sermon and the songs from the choir and hymns into the week and it was powerful. I liked feeling closer to God and my spirituality was being strengthened. I became less anxious about those pesky follow-up cat scans, my faith was deepening.

I became a member of the choir. This decision required some courage, as my previous experience singing in a choir was during high school. Although I consider myself an average singer, I greatly enjoy participating despite not having formal musical training or education. Thankfully, the commitment is manageable, with rehearsals on Tuesdays and performances on Sundays, and the experience is consistently rewarding. Someone once remarked that singing in a choir is “like praying twice,” and I have found this to be true.