This will be my last “Staying Connected” blog as Senior Minister. For twelve years I have had the privilege of reflecting on events in the world and in the life of the church with you. Part of my role was to help us find both meaning and direction. 

Now First Unitarian has selected a new Senior Minister who will have that privilege, and my role is simply to offer every blessing to her and to all of you as you move forward. 

I find myself reflecting on the disciplines of life in religious community. We promise to be present to one another as we welcome new life, dedicating ourselves to young ones in our sanctuary. We promise to be present to one another as we celebrate lives as they end. And we promise to be present to one another at the other milestones of our living: Coming of Age, Graduation, Marriage. We promise to be present to one another for all the times of beginning and ending. 

We promise to be present. 

My ministry now is to be present to saying goodbye. Present to this ending. 

There is sadness. And I will miss you all and my ministry with you. There are places in my heart that will always hold the memories of all we have lived through and lived into. But it helps me to remember that being present to the transitions of life is what religious community does, what the church has always done. 

It helps me to remember that all ministers, even the most long-serving, are really “interim ministers,” called to serve congregations only for a time, while the congregations outlive and outlast those individuals that serve them. 

In my past lives, I did not do endings well. I just didn’t stop until the very last. It made some endings too abrupt and did not allow the kind of goodbye that honors the depth of feeling and the love we have shared. 

Saying goodbye is the holy work I am called to do in these last weeks. I am committed to being present as the final “last” this and “last” that rapidly come and go. 

I am committed to honor our time together and to honor the rightness of this transition for me and for First Unitarian. 

There is a short poem by Lucille Clifton that I am holding close: 

the lesson of the falling leaves
the leaves believe
such letting go is love
such love is faith
such faith is grace
such grace is god
I agree with the leaves 

Blessings, 

Bill