The Long Way to Kansas: Begin

Last Sunday, June 13th, our new paster started what hopes to be a long tenure at our church, St. John's UMC in Austin, Texas. June is moving month for pastors in the United Methodist Church. I have observed that about every six or seven years, the current pastor leaves us and a new pastor arrives. The transition can be hard for a congregation and for the new pastor. The congregation is mourning losing a beloved old pastor and often makes it tough for a new pastor to come in. My family and I have been through some transitions that have been really hard. On the other hand, the transition can be fairly smooth. While the congregation loves and holds the outgoing pastor in the highest esteem, they can, at the same time, embrace the new pastor with anticipation and excitement, looking forward and being open to the blessings that will come. I believe THAT is what has happened and is happening right now at St. John's. It is truly a blessing to behold.

The title of the first sermon by the new pastor last week was "Begin." The pastor's new beginning at St. John's, our new beginnings with him, the beginning of the new relationships among us all. You understand. It was really good.

So, why am I writing about this in my blog today? The travel blog? Because, like our community at St. John's, this is the week when Jack and I also BEGIN the new phase of our life, The Big Retirement Adventure! And, like our SJ's community, we also said a lot of hard good-byes and have a lot of anticipation for the blessings to come. We said good-bye to our children, my dad, our friends, and our dogs. We sold our cars, moved out of our house, gave away most of our furniture, and packed up and stored the rest of our junk. We carefully chose what clothes to bring, which shoes would work the best, and what liquids and lotions we needed to put into the quart size zip bag. We packed, and re-packed, and re-packed it yet again to fit into one suitcase each that would go in the overhead bin and one backpack each that would go underneath the seat in front of us.

We've only just begun. But it seems like we've been working on the beginning for a while now. And, anticipating what's to come is keeping me breathless.