’Tis the season for hellos and goodbyes! You can hear the Wren bell ringing thanks to William and Mary students preparing for Commencement. Pastor Dave and his family will be celebrating with their son Ben as he graduates college. Local high school seniors mark the end of year with final performances, tests, dances and parties. Kid’s Morning Out is about to send off their Sycamore class to kindergarten (including Director Laura Pittman’s son William!). We have recently welcomed new neighbors to our community and on our WUMC staff, including Deacon Troy Sims and Family Ministries Coordinator Zach Griggs and their families. (Families of graduates, please share information with Nancy Reynolds here, so we can pray for and rejoice with you all!)
We might call these times in our lives “threshold moments.” As a youngster, I was not known for handling transitions very well. Even happy ones! My parents recount lots of tears on last and first days of school. So, if you’re anything like me, and change comes with a measure of anxiety and nostalgia, here are some ways I’ve embraced these liminal moments.
- Give yourself permission to grieve. We often connect grief with pain and loss, but we can also feel grief for joyful times now behind us. Take some time to write down or reflect on what has been.
- Contemplate how the great cloud of witnesses are all around us cheering us on this present moment. Consider our place in God’s story of love and redemption. Find opportunities to share with a trusted friend about what you are experiencing.
- Pace yourself! Ground yourself in quiet times of rest, renewal, meditation, and prayer. Whether or not there is a formal ritual associated with your transition, do something to acknowledge what’s happening in your life. Take a prayer walk around a high school or college. Gather with some friends, listen to or sing a special song, read a poem or say a prayer. Eat a piece of cake or toast with some sparkling grape juice to all that has been and what’s to come.
In his book To Bless the Space Between Us poet John O’ Donohue writes, “At any time you can ask yourself: At which threshold am I now standing? At this time in my life, what am I leaving? Where am I about to enter? ...A threshold is not simply a boundary, but it is a frontier that cannot be crossed without the heart being passionately engaged and woken up. At this threshold, a great complexity of emotion comes alive: confusion, fear, excitement, sadness, hope. This is one of the reasons such vital crossings were always clothed in ritual.”
Friends, your church family, clergy and staff are in prayer for you during these seasons of change and transition. “For all that has been, thank You. For all that is to come, Yes!” (Dag Hammarskjold)
~ Pastor Meghan
