Change is tricky business.

It means life and it means stress and it means deep breaths and a remembering of the net of grace always present.

Our church is undergoing changes.  Our sanctuary is changing due to an organ rebuild.  Every day brings new details to tend and take in.  We have an amazing crew of church members who are coming to know each other and (I hope) enjoying the thrill of making beauty in the soul living room of their church.

Yesterday our Associate pastor shared the information that he is to leave us in June.  This is hard, since being pastor in a church means building relationships that bless.  Anxiety surrounds such announcements:  where will he go, how will we craft positions to continue the growth of our ministry, and how do we gracefully bless him on his way?

Churches have often been likened to families:  the good the bad and the ugly of families.  It’s a metaphor that is sometimes helpful.

Because we know that in families, changes have to happen.  Homes get adapted (thank goodness avocado shag carpet is no longer in vogue) and members of the family are loosed into the world with (we hope) grace and gratitude for relationship shared.

When we are healthy, we remember that our call in life is to change and grow, adapt and learn.  We trust the presence of the Holy in the midst of that unfolding.

And on really good days, we remember that anything that does not change in life, be it plant, animal or relationship, dies.  So we name our anxieties and befriend the changes in our lives, because the Spirit moves us to abundant life.

And we like that.