Shelly Mickelson Retires Today!
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| Faithful Shelly at her familiar station. |
Shelly Mickelson retires today after 20+ years of service to Trinity Lutheran Church in San Pedro! The staff will celebrate Shelly today at noon, and the whole Trinity family will have a chance to honor her on Saturday, March 4th.
Shelly has been the Administrative Assistant at Trinity since I came in October of 2005. She also served with Pastors Curt Peterson, Bill St, and interim Pastors Justus Ghormley and Larry Christenson. She worked with countless volunteers, youth directors and other staff, council presidents, elders, fellowship teams, etc. The Greek word συνεργός (sunergos) reminds me of Shelly. The word is used in a few ways in the New Testament, and all of them describe Shelly perfectly! It is one of St Paul's favorite terms for those he worked with. It simply means "fellow worker."
συνεργός Singular: Paul calls Timothy (among others) his "fellow worker" in Romans 16. This one is personal for me. My time at Trinity has been relatively peaceful, but I have never felt alone in the 11+ years I have served Trinity. In Downton Abbey, Lady Mary Crawley had Butler Carson "always in my corner," even when she didn't deserve him. I feel like that with Shelly. I feel like she has been "always in my corner." Shelly put the "ministry" in administration. It was a joyful service for her, and it showed. I only remember a few sighs, usually in the week before or after Vacation Bible School. Shelly was good at nearly everything in which I'm weak. She never procrastinates. She is allergic to "to do" lists. She is organized. She is not a plodder. She doesn't complain. We were both bad at remembering birthdays, but other staff filled in on that common weakness. That common weakness even made me feel better. Shelly also had a keen sense of intuition about what I was going to request. I started calling her "Radar" from the character on the show M.A.S.H. for her amazing predictive gifts.
συνεργοί Plural: Sometimes Paul calls out all his fellow workers as a bunch, like in 1 Corinthians 3. Shelly has been a team player from the beginning. She has been professional in her duties, patient with every kind of person, prudent with information (I can't think of one time that she delighted in gossip or any information on other people), positive attitude toward people and projects, and always personable. She, with Nita Klonoski, did life preserving measures on a woman who had cardiac arrest at Women's Bible Study. When the paramedics got there, they told her to "keep on going, you are doing a terrific job." How many times did I hear her giving IT advise over the phone or in person to an technologically inept church member. She talked people "off the ledge" figuratively and literally. She has been one of the fellow workers in Jesus' church.
συνεργοί θεοῦ Plural connected to God: Paul also talks about "God's fellow workers." This was evident in Shelly's life. Her commitment came from Somewhere. Her energy had another Source. Her grace came from an Oasis. She knew she was serving with people, and serving them, but she also knew she was serving with God, and serving Him.
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