Interlude

It's been a quiet week on the blog because it has been a busy, busy week in real life, and a long week too. Today I led a funeral for a member of the congregation, and his death has hit our congregation pretty hard. I'm blessed to serve a church that really functions as a pretty close and supportive family. This surely can be a challenge from time to time - not always a group that is fast to change or try new things - but my congregation is pretty welcoming and friendly and fiercely supportive and protective of its 'children', our members.

So anyway, this was a hard funeral because the grief of the congregation is just so palpable. I've done lots of funerals since coming to St. Paul's, and there's a strange truth to the saying that funerals really tie together pastors and parishioners. But it also gets harder the longer I'm at St. Paul's. The longer I'm there, the more I've been a part of these peoples' lives, and visa versa, and the more difficult it becomes to say goodbye, for many reasons. I guess in a good way, one person's death is not just their death alone - it is an event that impacts lots of people in different ways, and though some of these ways may be positive in the long run, I grieve in particular the sadness that this death brings to so many people.

Guess that's all. Hopefully back to regular blogging this weekend. Heck, I still have one more set of Congress on Evangelism reflections to write!