Dearly Beloved,
This is the first week when I am only working on worship and these midweek messages. A wise member of our congregation recently sent me the Rev. Molly Baskette's reflection on letting go. Goodbyes -- those words alone -- seem thin when I think of all that we've shared these last seven years. As Rev. Baskette writes: "Why-oh-why isn't there a better way to let go than to stop conscious contact, as if pretending away the sacred [years] we shared?"
It's a strange thing, to love each other so well, so thoroughly, so bravely and then to let go. But the reality is that the letting go doesn't diminish all that's been shared. It simply makes room for the new. Baskette muses: "We release each other in the spirit of giving each other space to keep growing. To understand that there's more than one person who can be trusted with our secrets, our sorrows, our tattered hopes, and our shining agape ['a-gah-pay' -- the Greek word meaning love']." We forget that endings cannot take away what we have shared, cannot undo the bonds of love, the growing and learning, the sharing and trusting, the experiences of the Holy that we've shared. God keeps weaving us with Spirit, and letting go simply allows those endings to be woven into new cloth. Letting go allows that weaving to take us in different directions without weakening or diminishing what we have created together.
It's a hard thing, letting go. But it is also the loving thing. The brave and truthful thing. And I have great faith in our ability to do it well and with care -- just as we have done so much together, now we get to do this work separately. And through it all, we are led by Spirit and grounded in love. I look forward to walking with you these next few weeks as we work on letting go and moving in the new directions in which God is leading us.
God, hold onto us tightly, so we have the courage to let go these next few weeks.
With love, gratitude, and hope,
Thandiwe
