Dear Grace Friends,
I wanted to let you know the news that Pastor Delwayne Hahn died yesterday at his home in Cambridge, Minnesota. His daughter Heidi called me around 7:30pm to let me and the Grace community know.
In the last week, Pastor Hahn was able to be at his beloved home that he had shared with Marilyn and be in the care of his daughters Heidi and Kristiena and granddaughter Dezirae. On his final day all of his children were able to come and be with him before he finally left this life and joined the Lord.
I was privileged to work alongside Pastor Hahn for the last year and a half. He told me of his diagnosis on the first day we met. And even though I know at times he was weak and weary from his treatments; it was seldom that we on the Grace staff didn’t see him in the church office. He loved ministry! Loved it to the very fiber of his being. He loved being a pastor and sharing the good news of God’s love with everyone. He believed in the power of the church to transform lives and he did not want that journey to end.
On Christmas Eve he told me he needed to step down from his position at Grace and only one month later he died. For 51 years Delwayne served God. This Christmas was the first Christmas Day service that he didn’t lead worship, but he was still there on Zoom with the rest of us, hearing again the promise of God proclaimed by the angels, that to us a Savior has been born. This is the gift of our faith, that God comes into it our world. God enters into the darkness, into the grief, into our communities and into our lives. God knows what it is like both to live and to die, and we are assured that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love.
If he could have, Pastor Hahn would have served in the church another 20 years, baptizing and preaching and teaching, and we would have been blessed by his wit and his witness. Instead, with both tears in my eyes and joy in my heart, I grieve and celebrate. I grieve that we will no longer serve together, and I won’t get to hear his stories any more, or be reminded of the way “they used to do things” in the church. I will miss his care and his support not only for me, but for all of you. I give thanks for the time we shared. For as hard as it is to say goodbye, this is also a day of celebration. I celebrate that he is no longer in pain, or tired or worn, but can once again do all the things he loves. I celebrate that at long last he gets to be reunited with those he loves, especially his beloved Marilyn. I celebrate that today he is standing before the throne of God having been welcomed to his eternal home. I celebrate the life of Delwayne Hahn and all that he brought into this world. Thanks be to God!
Well done, good and faithful servant!
Let us pray:
God of promise, we give you thanks for the life of Delwayne Hahn. For the 51 years that he served your people and shared the gospel. We give you thanks for his witness, his humor, his family, and for all the ways he brought compassion and care into our world. We ask for you to hold us in our grief, to wipe the tears from our eyes, and to remind us again of the eternal promise we have with you. We pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen
Funeral plans are still being arranged: The little I know is that he plans to have a small family service in New London and be buried by Marilyn. He also wants to have a service later on at Grace. This upcoming Sunday we will have a time in our worship where we will pray and give thanks for Pastor Hahn and his ministry.
Blessings,
Pastor Joanna Mitchell
