A few years ago I thought of an idea for a restaurant. It would focus only on appetizers and desserts (my favorite parts of a meal) and it would be called Beginnings and Endings. Sounds perfect, right? Something everyone can identify with – starting new and saying good-bye. Beginnings and endings are definitely universal experiences. I remembered this idea recently as I was talking to a friend at work - a friend who has now left to continue his education. [*sigh*] His leaving makes me think of the bigger beginnings and endings in my life.

    I mark time by relationships. I don’t remember events by the year they happened. I remember them by who was with me and the feelings that accompany the event. This is particularly true at work. I have worked at the same church for 13 years. For the years I have been there, I have had to say good-bye to 5 pastors, 7 program staff, 9 members of our office staff and 3 seminary interns. Even though we have a large staff for a church, we are cohesive and work well together. We meet regularly and play together frequently. It is hard to say good-bye. Each time someone leaves, I reflect on all the people I have worked with and have supported me as a colleague at Faith. 
·  I remember not only the past music director and pastor but the camp we created and ran for three years. It
was one of my first collaborative efforts in ministry and I learned a lot from them. 
·  I think about one of our youth directors and the mission trip I chaperoned with her. The experience of
that trip impacted me personally as it changed the way I interact with and think about the “invisible”people in our communities. 
·  And I am reminded of each of the pastors every time I open my desk drawer and see all the notes I took as I
listened to their sermons on Sunday morning. I can still hear each of their voices as I read their words in my own scribbled handwriting. Their words still ring true.

     But with endings come new beginnings. For the same amount of people who have left, we have welcomed new colleagues that bring their own unique set of gifts to our staff and our church. I can’t imagine my own professional life without many of them. I have grown and been challenged in ways that I know would not have happened if they had not joined our staff. I have had so many important relationships to mark time.

    I am smart enough to know that running a restaurant would be hard work. (I have seen the show Restaurant Impossible!) But beginnings and endings in the form of food would be much simpler for me to deal with than the complex emotions that come from changes in relationships. If you know about church life, you know that important and deep conversations happen there. Discussions literally about life and death. As professional leaders in the church, we have these discussions all the time. Many times they move from the professional slant like how I can help children understand God’s grace to the very personal of my coworker sharing God’s grace in my own life. It is an amazing and humbling thing when a relationship moves to one of such profound trust that people can wonder together about these life and death questions in such a personal way. 

    That is why it is so hard to say good-bye! Knowing that, I wouldn’t change what I do or where I work. As each new staff member is welcomed, I am reminded that God will be at work in this relationship too – in the beginning and in the ending.

~Pam

I just read a book called Sundays in America: A Yearlong Road Trip in Search of Christian Faith by Suzanne Strempek Shea. It first caught my eye because it is the trip I would like to take and the book I wish I could write. The author starts her journey for a different reason than me. She was raised Roman Catholic and had become disillusioned with her church after the accusations surfaced of abuse by priests. She still felt drawn to church but like so many other Catholics, did not feel like she could worship in another Christian denomination. She used her writing to give herself permission to explore other churches. She visited a different Christian
Protestant church every Sunday for a year. She wanted to see why other people were drawn to church like herself.

Church Geeks
I found her reflections fascinating. Those of us who work in the church have conversation after conversation of what is the magic formula for getting people “in the pews.” We know there are more and more people who do not identify themselves with a worship community anymore.
Church geeks like myself, who are serious about church, wonder: What will reach people and get them to experience our community and worship? We believe it is where people should be. How do we share that and have them know we want them here with us?

We talk about the details: traditional liturgy vs. event–style worship; praise music vs. traditional hymns; screens vs. hymnals; short services vs. long; Sunday morning vs. Saturday night; and it goes on and on. Some who have distanced themselves from church may roll their eyes at conversations like that and cynically wonder if those details are all church professionals care about? One thing I realized as I read about all the different experiences the author had in visiting churches is that those details are important. They make the experience of worship unique to that place. For church goers, we want to feel like our church is a place we belong and where we feel the Spirit working. So those details are important.
But…another thing I was reminded of in the book is that when the focus of the conversation stops at those details and does not extend to how God is at work in the people there and in the world, then the experience seems less than authentic – at the least to author. And I tended to agree with her.

The author’s year
It was fascinating to read about her experiences in each of these protestant churches. A result of her strong
Catholic background was that she brought knowledge of and a love of liturgy and rhythm of the church year with her. That was the primary lens in which she observed each church. I think that surprised her. She didn’t know that was such a part of her until it was missing.  As a Lutheran, I have that same lens.

She chose some churches for very practical reasons. She needed to visit a certain kind of church to check it off her list and Southwest Airlines had a good fare. Though the reason for going may not have been one of theology, she almost always found some inspiration from worship to take with her and encourage her during the
week.

Some churches were chosen for specific reasons:
 · She visited the chapel at West Point Military Academy on the Sunday before Memorial Day hoping for prayers and acknowledgment of the soldiers who were sacrificing their lives in the Iraq War. (Her visits were in 2006.) She was deeply disappointed when there was not one mention of fallen soldiers or the sacrifice they made for our country.
 · She visited Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, Georgia where President Jimmy Carter attends and still teaches Sunday School. 
· She went to San Francisco to worship at Saint John Will-I-Am Coltrane African Orthodox Church. She had no idea what to think and was delighted when the 3 hour service was heartfelt, intimate and touched her soul.
 · The decision to find a church in Las Vegas (Sin City) to begin the Lenten season was deliberate and with a touch of ironic humor. What she found was people intentionally worshiping God and looking for meaning in their lives. It was a very small group gathered (5 people!), but it became one of her favorite moments.
 · She also visited famous mega-churches: Lakewood Church in Texas (Joel Osteen’s church) and Saddleback Church in California (Rick Warren’s church). I will let you read about those experiences for yourself.

Her Lutheran experience
I will be honest. I felt relief when she went to a Lutheran church and had a good experience. I saw in the table of contents she only visited one and I so wanted her to have the same deep experience I have at my church. She visited Kountze Memorial Lutheran Church in Omaha, Nebraska. She chose Kountze Memorial because it was the first Lutheran church founded west of the Mississippi River in 1858. It was one of the few churches all year that she felt comfortable (because of the traditional liturgy similar to her faith) and challenged (by a well written and well delivered sermon). The inclusive theology and doctrine of the ELCA (the larger Lutheran church body to which this congregation belongs), felt like a wash of grace showering her after hearing negative exclusionary doctrine and speech in so many other places of worship.

As she finished her journey, the author was left with profound memories of people. People warmly welcoming her into a place where she was clearly a visitor. People praying for and with her.  People called by God (not just clergy) to work for justice in the world. People sharing their varied gifts of music to worship God.

Can you tell I enjoyed reading this book? I think it is a good read not only for “church geeks” like me. I think it is for all of us, searchers and regular church goers, who feel that sacred connection to God and want to be in a community of faith to support, challenge and encourage each other.

I’ll conclude with the words that sent worshipers at Saint John Will-I-Am Coltrane African Orthodox Church:
 “Let us arise from this place and be busy about the things of God.”

 ~ Pam

 PS: God certainly has a sense of humor – the same day I read about her visit to the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Oregon, one of their tracts showed up on my front door!

I don't remember a lot of specific moments from when I was very young. Most of my memories from before my school years are based on stories I've been told over and over again or photos that feel familiar.

I do have one memory that is vivid. It is of my Grandpa Burch playing the mandolin. He died when I was 3 years old, so I can place the time and I know it is not supplemented by audio or video recordings. He was old (even then) and probably didn't playfully interact much with me and my older brother. Maybe that is why those musical moments have stayed with me.  I remember him careful, even reverently, hold the mandolin and play it. I think the sound too was something that as a child was so unfamiliar. It is not usually strummed like a guitar. The strings are plucked quickly back and forth. This man who was so quiet would suddenly exude this physical and musical energy. I remember sitting on the living room floor mesmerized by the event of my grandfather playing the mandolin.

Here is my grandfather's mandolin. It is a strange thing to pick it up and hold it now as an adult after all these years. Did he teach himself? Could he play by ear? Did his father, who was musical, teach him? What made him so careful and reverent about this instrument?
I think like many people of his generation, valuable possessions were few and far between. I'm sure that is one of the reasons why it was so well cared for. I like to also think that he held a high regard for the creative and intrinsic value that comes with making music.

So now my 3 year old child memories of sitting on the floor listening to my grandfather play will join with my present day memory of holding this cherished instrument. It is a strange and wonderful thing to hold a memory in your hand.

~ Pam

Pictured above is Ralph Burch, my grandfather and James, his father.