Beginnings & Endings

Beginnings and endings – they are intrinsically interwoven threads in the tapestry of our living. Together they create the tidal rhythm which flows over, under, around, and through everything we experience in this life. We don’t always know what particular form it will take, but we can be sure that if it has a beginning it will also have an ending. We can close our eyes and pretend it is not so. We can rail against it. We can complain. And the results will be the same – beginnings and endings. So, since that is how things work, and since it really is a rhythm, why not choose to dance? That’s what we humans do when we let the rhythm wash over us – we dance! And when we choose to embrace the rhythm and give ourselves over to it we discover that the dance doesn’t stop with the endings – because there are always new beginnings. The rhythm continues. The dance goes on.

From the moment I said yes to the invitation to become your Transitional Pastor we knew that this day would come. We didn’t know exactly when it would arrive, but we knew that built into the arrangement was the reality that I would not be staying. And so, as the ending of my time with you now rapidly approaches, I choose to dance. I choose to celebrate the eighteen months we have shared together. I choose to let the sacred rhythm of life wash over me and carry me forward in the next stage of my journey, trusting that the gracious Spirit of God which has been present with me thus far will continue to be present with me in the days, weeks, months, and years ahead. I hope you will join me in this intentional choice to be grateful. Such an attitude does not preclude sadness. My time with you has been powerful and momentous in many ways. I have learned so much with you and from you. I will miss being your pastor. And I simply refuse to allow the sadness to overshadow my appreciation for the gift. As we prepare to part company in the days ahead, may we be intentional about celebrating what we have shared together and what God has accomplished in us and through us. Let us dance to the amazing rhythm of Life and see where it takes us next!

- Pastor Roger

(keeping my feet firmly planted in the flow)