Thank You!

What an amazing send-off July 2 was. Worship was planned to be a worship service about welcoming Russell and Dianne and not about saying good-bye to Steve & Suzanne, and everything went according to plan…but then Larkin got the handheld microphone and those dry eyes started to water. I was thrilled that my family was include in the celebrations. In many ways I feel like they share me with the church, and that too much of the time get they short end of the stick.

Suzanne was looking at the crosses as they were placed on the Altar, and was especially drawn to the one with the cross member with hands raised up, and thought, no that one is for Steve, but it's the one I really like. Imagine her thrill when that was the one that was presented to her. I don't know (well, actually I do know), but Bob did a perfect job of making the cross for the person. I especially liked the one that was presented to me, with the two hinges uniting the split cross. There is so much meaning for me, the fact that I used to collect large doors, the fact that there is a split between my calling to a pastor, and my responsibility as a father. Larkin talked about flexibility, about being a door, and I was honored to hear them spoken of me, and honored by how the service ended. We were sorry we could not stay for the pot-bless, but the events of that Sunday were about to overwhelm us all, and so I hope you will forgive us if we got out of there (and back to moving).

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