FAITH IN ACTION

Mrs. Robin has been busy since my last visit.  She certainly has faith that this nest is going to be safe for her eggs.  Faith that she is going to even have eggs.  Faith that things are going to happen the way they are supposed to happen. 

Before I even made this visit, I today took a leap of faith of my own by dusting and storing away my beloved Christmas creche and lavender Christmas tree which have been in our TV area giving me solace and comfort; reminding me of the promise that all will be well.  I no longer need this crutch.  I am okay now.  The church is closing.  We have enough money to pay decent severence to our staff and to keep current with our bills until the final sevice which will take place on May 26.  It has been a long and stressful time.  I just could not bear to put away "Christmas" while I was deeply mourning this loss. 

I will still grieve.  Tears come easy, too easy.  The ache in my heart is forever.  And that's okay.  There will one day be new places to nest, new eggs to nurture, and new fledglings to support and encourage.  One day at a time.  This day is the day that it was NOT sad and heartbreaking to put away Christmas.  It is spring.  There is hope.  There is faith that all will be well.

HOPE

Mrs. Robin in going to try again.  Maybe it isn't the same Mrs. Robin.  Maybe it is.  The faith that it takes to start building this nest, four feet off the ground right next to our back stairs.... WOW!  Now, that is faith.  Some might call it instinct.  Perhaps faith is instinctive. 

If a mother robin can have that much faith, then surely I can have enough faith to know that the closing of Grace Church is not an end.  It can surely be the beginning of a new nesting in some other place.  In fact there will be multiple nesting places for the people who will be temporily without a church home. We will not all choose to go to the same new place.  We have different needs and different experiences.  What we have learned at Grace we will take with us and be changed yet again and change those with whom we join.

Maybe this is a good time for a church to be closing its doors.  It is spring.  There is that hopeful promise of all things new.  We have been enriched in this place.  We have learned more than we can ever pass on.  We have experienced resurrection and we will now follow Christ into the world to do what God would have us do.  We are equipped.  We are ready.