To everything there is a season – The courage in endings — OR Every ending marks a beginning

Beautiful reredos at Trinity Church in Park Rapids, MN

A story told by the Episcopal Bishop of Minnesota // Edited for clarity by kjg

Today, a large congregation of laity and clergy from around central and northern Minnesota crowded into Trinity Church in Park Rapids for a final Eucharist, for the de-consecration of the building. The congregation was a unique partnership between an Episcopal and a Presbyterian congregation that joined together more than 20 years ago. It was prophetic ecumenism then and now.

The four or five remaining year-round members made the decision with great courage, integrity, and deep faith. They were assisted with great care and tenderness by several members of the diocesan staff, and while they will still be Episcopalians and members of the diocese, they will regularly worship at a local Lutheran Church, who has beautifully welcomed them.

The further I creep into middle-age, the more painfully aware I am that everything in our lives, our communities, and our relationships are given to us for only a season. Everything begins, grows, and ends. As followers of Jesus, we meet the endings we inevitably face with sadness, yes, but also without shame or fear. We don’t anxiously cling to what is passing away, but to the promise that we have in Jesus that God will bring new life out of every death, and in every season’s ending, we look forward in hope to the richness that each new season brings.

That’s the work of the whole Christian movement in this moment. I am moved to tears with gratitude for the way the faithful members of Trinity have witnessed to that in the past few years. I and I’m knocked down by the way Episcopalians in central and northern Minnesota drove significant distances to be part of blessing what is ending, and reminding us all that in every beginning, and every ending, none of us walk alone.

Craig Loya, Bishop at Episcopal Church in Minnesota