As we move toward the end of the school year and into summer, I feel in my heart “it is time to move.” Thankfully, I’m not on the moving list this year; I’m not packing boxes and trying to complete all the lists and forms needed to move. Instead, I probably just need to clean out my closets and attic and divest of some of our stuff!
The season of transition begins really at the beginning of the calendar year for many of us. Some clergy discover during consultation time that they are feeling a call to move or that the season of service at a particular place seems to be coming to an end. We pray, we seek guidance and wisdom from the Holy Spirit, we talk with family and friends about what we are feeling. Sometime around Easter, most United Methodists know if a move is to happen in the current year. SPRC Chairs receive calls around this time and announcements are made. Then, we are truly in transition time.
During these weeks we make plans for how we will bring some things to closure, put ministries in good places for transition to the new pastor, and figure out the best plan for moving from one home to the next. This season brings excitement for the new, but also places a lot of stress on the pastor and family. So much is in flux in both the workplace and home that it is hard to escape what is happening around us; and then we deal with the emotions of leaving one place, all the relationships made and experiences shared. Truly, it is a long and short season of transition filled with activity and emotion.
Please hold our colleagues in prayer, reach out with encouragement and care, and share positive best practices as asked!
May God bless all of you who are making a move:
Bill Adams, Philip Chryst, Gene Cobb (retiring), Johnny Llerena, David King, Tal Madison (retiring),
Debbie Matthis, Steve Murphy, Alex Parker, Jamie Thompson, Britney Toner.
We are praying with you and for you during this stressful time!
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In a real way, many of us are experiencing a long season of transition as well. We navigated “Pandemic Time” with all the roller coaster ups and downs of new ways to worship, teach, develop disciples as well as the emotional ride we continue to experience even today. Last week, we learned more about the transition that affects the whole United Methodist Church. This difficult season has taken its toll on our energy, our ability to rebound, our normal mountain top high that comes from days like Easter and Pentecost, graduations and baptisms. I know many of you found it difficult to lead Holy Communion on May 1, knowing that we were one step closer to division. This coming Sunday, our text reminds us once again of who, as Christians, we are called to be:
“I ask not only on behalf of these but also on behalf of those who believe in me through their word, that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. Father, I desire that those also whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory, which you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. Righteous Father, the world does not know you, but I know you, and these know that you have sent me. I made your name known to them, and I will make it known, so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them and I in them.”
Jesus speaking in John 17:20-26
It’s a hard message to preach, perhaps, a hard scripture simply to hear, to take in, to hold onto during this season. Our language has centered around breaking apart, going separate ways; we see the value in going separate ways and yet it hurts. Couples need to divorce at times, and yet it hurts, and takes a long time to heal. Our denomination has been hurting, even hurting one another within the denomination, for a long time. We are grieved to continue with this hurt and we are grieved to see it end in a parting of ways.
As you are reading and holding this scripture close to your heart, I offer this: we have a wonderfully expansive, powerful, compassionate God. We are given God-sized love to share; not human sized love, but God-sized. We are given a bonding and unifying love, a deep and faithful love by Christ. Jesus shares this love, makes it known to us; Jesus intercedes for us in knowing, fully receiving love as he also receives it from the Father.
United Methodists are still more like so many other denominations than different. We share Jesus Christ in common. We share loving God and loving neighbor in common. We share making disciples who make disciples in common. And even as we Methodists explore various expressions of our faith, we are all part of the one Body. And we love one another, hence the pain, even as we see this split happening. Let us commit to “God-sized loving” of one another, renewed in spirit and love, even as we transition with God into this new future. May this love, that is beyond our understanding, bring you peace.
If you would like to view past editions of Time with Tara, follow this link:
https://harbordistrictnc.org/category/from-the-ds/