Spring Is A New Beginning

My grandparents gave me this book almost 50 years ago. It traveled with me to college and has graced the bookshelves of every place I've lived. Its whimsical illustrations and simple poetry bring Spring alive every time I open it. When I pulled it off the shelf while packing books the other day, I paused to read through it again. I haven't packed it yet.

It is a gentle farewell
to yesterday
and the birth of new hope.

Today at church the congregation learned that we will be saying farewell to four members of our community next month. One couple, members for 55 years, will be moving upstate to an assisted living residence the week before Easter. Our seminarian Shane's last Sunday will be April 22, and mine April 29.

The speed of all of this has our heads spinning. While we've known since Shane arrived that he'd be leaving us at the end of the school year, my new job and relocation has been sudden, but today's news of our long-time members caught us all up short. Suddenly the congregation finds itself preparing for not one, not two, but three farewell celebrations.

Saying farewell is something Grace Church has become accustomed to over the last few years. In many ways it has become their focus. And the focus of those on the periphery of the community. Any time there's a hint that the parish may be closing, the pews are filled with folks who come to say good bye.

Yet new and exciting things are on the horizon for the church. Of course, things start to fall into place just as I leave. This Spring is a new beginning not just for those of us leaving but also for the congregation we are taking our leave of. Hopefully, as they move into the future, they will learn to say welcome as easily as they say farewell.

As I move into the future I will be saying welcome to many people in my role as Guest House Manager. And I will also be saying hello to friends old, new, and not yet met when I move to Alexandria.

Spring IS a new beginning.

Oh, and for my brother Scott: Thirty-Six Days!