Full Circle

It's earlier in the day - but I have a child demanding that I lift him up. I'm not sure which is harder.

I discovered just a little bit ago that the scripture that I will preach on for my last Sunday at Christ (very possibly the last Sunday I preach as a pastor) will be the same scripture that I preached on as my first Sunday as an ordained pastor, 15 years ago.

It feels like each time I leave a place, the taking leave feels longer and longer. School years, including internship and student teaching, always included an ending from the beginning. But still, there did not seem like there was a long time between starting to prepare to leave and actually leaving.

My first call leave-taking seemed like it went pretty quickly. The seed of leaving was planted at the end of May and I was gone by the end of August. As I write, I realize that in my second call the leave-taking was also a bit prolonged. We got engaged in November (and it was announced near the beginning of December), and I didn't leave until the end of June. It wasn't obvious to everyone that I would be leaving, but it also wasn't surprising.

This time around, the council president and I knew in November, but didn't talk until December 1st, that a call wouldn't be able to be financially viable. And, at this point my on-leave-from-call status is running out. So, now we are starring down June 28th, 2020 as the last Sunday I'll be serving as a community's pastor. Really about the same amount of time as my 2nd call. But, it's feeling really drawn out. Not that it feels that way to the congregation, but I am feeling relieved that the leave-taking has officially begun with a letter going out on Monday.