For the past month during our weekly meetings, Scott and I have included a time to talk about endings. My time at Lakeridge will be coming to an end in the middle of June. At that time I will also be finishing up my studies at the Seattle School of Theology and Psychology. With each one of these formal endings come more informal ones. The schedule that I have known over the last year will be changing. I will be saying goodbye to people in the congregation as well as to friends that I made over the last few years in school.
Endings are always a hard thing, and each person has a different way of dealing with them. For me, I tend to cut and run. I usually only give myself a moment to acknowledge that things are coming to an end. Once I have said my last goodbye and pulled out of the parking lot, I turn my attention toward what is to come and I don’t look back.
The problem with ending my time at Lakeridge this way is that it is unfair to my congregation and it is unfair to myself. While the position of pastor is a job, the church community makes it much more than an occupation that one can just leave. These people have taught me and encouraged me over the last 8 months, and I have hopefully done the same for them. We have learned in an abbreviated way to be a part of each others lives. To leave without acknowledging all of this, I think can leave a shadow on everything that we have done together.
So I want to finish well by starting to acknowledge and give words to the glory of God that I have witnessed in the last few months. The work of being an intern is starting to change again.
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Jon Glenn is the Vicar for the 2011-2012 school year. In the months to come he is looking forward to reading books for fun, hiking, sitting in the sun, and getting married to his fiancee Melissa in September.
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