A pastor friend told me recently that his church decided to discontinue a ministry that they’ve carried on for more than 40 years. Their reasons for doing so were completely solid and understandable, but there was also some sadness associated with the decision. My friend took a few minutes in a Sunday service to talk about the ministry, acknowledge the reasons for its discontinuation, and to thank — warmly and genuinely — all of the people who had participated over the years.
I teared up when he told this story, partly because it was a sweet story, and partly because it was a reminder of how ineptly I have often handled the endings of friendships, romantic relationships, jobs, and — you knew this was coming! — my first church relationship. When you’re younger, you have the illusion that you can just walk away from things; as I get older, I realize that everything is still a part of me, including things that ended badly. So much grief that a simple acknowledgment, like the one my friend did for his church, might have eased.
Yes. Amen. All of it, especially the tendency when I was younger to think I could just walk away and not clean things up.
real live preacher
November 29th, 2007
Sometimes I would love to walk away from the first 4 decades of history I carry, or at least change that one bit that pops up at the most inopportune moments. While people may forget that there was a time when I didn’t have a beard, the records never will.
kamikaze999
December 1st, 2007