Casual Comments From the Minister – June 2011
It’s time to say goodbye. It could seem a somewhat unimportant task since none of us are going anywhere, but it is absolutely essential because we are changing roles and that’s as significant as physical departure. We’ve had a wonderful, thirteen year run, but it is fast coming to an end and it would be sad not to mark the change that is upon us. So let’s say goodbye!
I hope that you, like me, don’t really want to say goodbye, but it is, nevertheless, time to say goodbye. We need to do it to honor our time together and the work we’ve done as well as the joys we have shared. And we need to say goodbye because it is part of what is necessary if we are to move on to whatever comes next. Long ago a good friend taught me that when he left both the physical area and the job that had brought us together. It was painful to say goodbye, but it freed us up to know one another in a different way and to cherish that new relationship.
There are many ways to do the goodbye thing: certainly it should include cake — maybe even more than once. We can say goodbye formally and there are several upcoming opportunities for that. First will be June 19th when I will preach my last sermon as your called minister. I hope you will all be there to hear that final message. It’s one that is dear to my heart. In fact it will be preceded by two other messages in the preceding two weeks. Next Sunday [June 5] I’ll be talking about the possibility of parallel universes, a topic that explores possibilities that are definitely “outside the box!” We’ll say goodbye to Patrick that day and honor those who work in religious education. And then on the penultimate Sunday [penultimate is one of my favorite words!] I will be offering “five last words” that I think could be a recipe for living well and we’ll honor those joining our “Twenty-five Year Club” — those who are joining the group that have been at OCUUC for 25 or more years. Each of these Sundays will be an opportunity for us to say goodbye to the ministry we have forged together.
And we can say goodbye informally and more personally. I would love to tell each of you what you have meant to me and how I value our association, because it is true that each of you has impacted my life and my ministry. I hope I will get the chance to do just that, and I need your help to make certain that can happen.
I believe that if we do a good job of saying goodbye to our ministry together we will honor it and cement it into our hearts so that it can continue to affect our lives and how we go on to minister in future situations long after we are no longer together. This is my goal for my last month as your minister. I hope you will make it your goal as well.
And then I will “disappear” from your lives for a time so that you can look at OCUUC clearly and see what is necessary for you to continue the work you have done, continue the good health that characterizes this beloved community, and determine how you want to thrive in the future — and so that you can welcome your new minister with open minds and hearts when he or she joins you. But know that I will be holding you in my heart even though we are apart.
In the meantime, may you
Go shining,
Karen
Emerita
ocuuc
org
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