Oh No, The World is Changing vs. Look, a New World! (Newsletter article)

              I received a letter from my home congregation Christ Lutheran, Cheyenne Wyoming, informing me that it was closing. It was a shock; it sort of knocked me off of my spiritual center of gravity. I mean, for me it was one thing that Lutheran congregations around St. Stephen were closing—after all on the East Coast only 1 in 4 members attend on any given Sunday, whereas “back home” Lutheran congregations have double the attendance—half of the congregation attends any given Sunday—which makes it much easier to keep a congregation afloat and energized. So, I went down that sad rabbit hole of thought, “If congregations in an area of the country where there is a cultural expectation that everyone attends church can’t make it… what chance do we have here?”

              Coloring all of that, of course, was all the emotional ties I had with the people of Christ Lutheran and yes, even the building. It was the place I first heard that God was gracious, the pulpit from which I preached my first sermons! I was losing an incredibly important part of my past! My very identity was being pulled out from under me!

Ouch!

              I was unable to attend the closing of the congregation, but I was able to send them a brief letter that was read at the closing:

Grace and peace,
This is Chris Halverson, I was a member of Christ Lutheran in my high school years. I received the letter informing me of Christ Lutheran’s imminent closure. I’ve not worshiped at Christ since traveling back to Cheyenne for my 10 year East High graduation; Seminary in Philadelphia and being called to be a Lutheran church in New Jersey has kept me away. I just want everyone to know how much you all mean to me. The wide variety of ways you all ministered to me—the community, the openness and love, all of it, was just what I needed as the sensitive teenager I was; you were truly the body of Christ to me. Thank you all so very much!

Peace,
Chris Halverson

              When I started to write (and re-write, and re-write again) the above paragraph I did so mourning the past, that everything was changing, my story was changing.

              But by the time I send the letter the direction my heart was headed had flipped. I was so thankful for the good I experienced at Christ—in fact I wanted to pass it on! What if in my ministry… in the congregation I serve and the congregations I will serve… I could help create communities of openness and love, where we can be the body of Christ for whole hosts of people who need it? What if a changed story, a loss of place, the deep sorrow of looking back at what was… what if all of that could prompt us to look forward? We’re not losing an old world, but finding a new one, flowing out in front of us to explore. What if the whole thing is a grand new adventure?

              I don’t know how that shift occurs, that moment mid-paragraph that moves the soul from grief to hope, but I’m so glad it happened for me. I hope it has happened for folk from St. Peter’s and Cross of Life and St. Stephen, Edison. I hope it happens for the entire church as we continually wake up to the new world in which we minister. We experienced the Church as a life giving, resurrection laced place, and now, in this new world we are in, we get to create just such a place for others! Thanks be to God!