AS I HAVE SHARED WITH SEVERAL LATELY, I HAVE BEEN VERY FORTUNATE IN the 21 years since I took my first appointment, in that I've never left a congregation where this was an easy time for me personally and professionally. One of the great blessings of our practice of itinerancy is that God invites us to discover some truly extraordinary people of faith no matter where we go in life, for there is nowhere we go God is not already there.
This week, I've started the process of packing up things in my office, just so things do not get too out-of-hand as time draws near the end of June. Going through all the books and other things that have accumulated over the last 20+ years, my mind often goes back to the circumstances surrounding the particular item I hold in my hand. (This is one reason I cannot strongly enough recommend that when it comes to moving, get someone to pack your stuff for you.)
With this move, though, I am having to be more discriminate in what makes it into the boxes and on the truck, since we are moving twice as many people (and, it seems, four times as much stuff!) There are books I know I'll never touch again that are being set aside simply because I know I'll never refer to them again or want to refer to others. There are books I should have trashed years ago, because they were lousy when I read them and I should not have wasted money moving them nor shall I waste people's time in handing them off to others.
As I took a moment to sit in the midst of all this, when I saw the view captured in the above picture, I could not help but reflect upon the Easter season in which we now are living. (Yes, Easter is not over.) When the ladies discovered the empty tomb, they discovered that everything had changed. E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G. Since, dear friends, everything had changed as a result of the resurrection, many, including the one known as "Doubting" Thomas, were having to set aside a lot of beliefs and practices to which it was natural to cling.
The only way to bask in the glory of the resurrected Christ is to accept that, indeed, all things are made new.
The only way to bask in the glory of the resurrected Christ is to accept that, indeed, there is some stuff we must leave behind.
What is it that you need to leave behind in your move to a person of the resurrection? What is it to which you have so desperately clung for so many years that needs to be set free in order to accept the reality of the grace, peace, forgiveness, reconciliation, redemption, and restoration that comes only from and through the risen Christ?
Grace and Peace, Lamar |
