A friend of mine recently observed that children rarely feel the emotion of poignancy. This somewhat crooked, perplexing emotion is most often reserved for those of us a little further down the road. We who know all too well that clarity can sometimes be painful. That even if we know the direction in which we are being called is clear and true, it often is also deeply sobering and sad. Life is chock full of this intense, feeling; as we watch our children walk into their kindergarten class or as we drive away from their freshman dorm room at college, as our parents and spouses age and move toward taking their leave.
These moments bring us to our knees with grief, but they are also somehow strangely beautiful because we know God is with us and that this is simply the paschal mystery being lived out – some things must end in order for new beginnings to be invited in.
When Jesus speaks of the wheat seed that “must die or it remains just a grain of wheat” He knows full well that His death is at hand and He is trying to reassure His disciples of the abundance to come in His resurrection, but yet this promise doesn’t make His farewell any less poignant.
Jesus reminds us often that “death to new life” is the pattern we all must embrace at many times in our life, but goodbyes are still just plain ol’ sad, right? Of course, the kids need to leave the nest to grow and of course our loved ones must diminish with age as they prepare for their new life in God on the horizon – and though this is all painful, there is joy to be had because in these poignant moments Christ’s presence remains. It is love that makes these good-byes so dang hard – but the author of love bids us to trust in the truth that love never fails.
It is with great poignancy that I share with you that I will be leaving the staff here at Christ the Redeemer on September 1st. I have accepted a position – continuing the good, ecumenical work of expanding Catechesis of the Good Shepherd in our Detroit region – at Christ Church Episcopal in Grosse Pointe in collaboration with some wonderful Catholic colleagues who serve in the city and some Eastside parishes.
Please know, this decision did not come easily. These past nine years here at Christ the Redeemer have been the greatest joy of my career. I deeply love and care for all the wonderful children, families, staff – ALL the amazing, faith-filled, dedicated people that I have met here and had the great privilege to serve and grow with.
Author Jan Richardson wrote this piece below for her “colleagues in ministry who are on the move.” Maybe, if you or someone you know find themselves in a “threshold-y time” like me, you may find this piece to be a balm, as I did, to ease this heart-rending moment.
THIS DAY WE SAY GRATEFUL
It is a strange thing to be so bound and so released all in the same moment, to feel the heart, open wide and wider still even as it turns to take its leave.
On this day, let us say this is simply the way love moves in its ceaseless spiraling, turning us toward one another, then sending us into what waits for us with arms open wide to us in welcome and in hope.
On this day, in this place where you have poured yourself out, where you have been emptied and filled and emptied again, may you be aware more than ever of what your heart has opened to here, what it has tended and welcomed here, where it has broken in love and in grief, where it has given and received blessing in the unfathomable mystery that moves us, undoes us, and remakes us finally for joy. This day may you know this blessing that gathers you in and sends you forth but will not forget you. This day we say grace; this day we say grateful; this day we say blessing; this day we release you in God’s keeping and hold you in gladness and love.
I will forever hold you near, my dear CTR friends, with “deep gladness and love.” Thank you for being such a tremendous gift in my life and the life of my family. Part of my heart will always remain with you, even as I head off to water a different little patch of the garden for a while.
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Thanks to Ann Garrido for some wisdom she shared with me the other day that gave birth to this post. Listen to her beautiful reflection on the wheat seed here: https://word.op.org/author/garridoa/
CLICK HERE for some photos of the CGS Montessori spaces our Formation Team has created together over the past nine years at CTR. Please hold our leaders in prayer as they continue to care for the children of the atria.
STRONG LANGUAGE: 
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