In the Gap

It was an unusual, but moving end to Sunday morning's worship service.  A young woman had enlisted in the Navy and was getting ready to leave for her basic training.  It was her last Sunday in her home church for awhile and as the service ended, the pastor called her forward for a moment of blessing.  Several Navy veterans also came and stood there alongside of her.  After a few moments of recognition, she knelt at the altar, the veterans stood around her, and her pastor offered a prayer of blessing for her as she prepared for a new beginning.    I

It was a moment when the power of that church's fellowship was focused in lazer like fashion on a single member of the community.  As she left that place, she surely knew where she belonged.  She knew she belonged to that church community, but she also knew she belonged to the Christ who would be with her wherever her new beginning took her.  I am sure tears were in the eyes of more people than this old retired Methodist preacher.  And while I am not one prone to do much clapping in worship, I rose with the rest to celebrate this moment which so captured the power of the care of the spiritual community we know as the church.     

New beginnings are always difficult and sometimes frightening.  Part of the reason is that beginnings are always preceded by some act of departure, or letting go.  It may be a departure precipitated by the death of a loved one, or the painful breakup of a marriage, or even the birth of a child.  Many of today's graduates are experiencing the excitement of new beginnings, but also grief over the inevitable departure from familiar surroundings, friends, and family.  As my graduating grandson said, "It is bittersweet."   It is great when the church seeks to stand as Christ's presence in the gap between endings and beginnings.