Even when I’m so ready to move on that I can’t even focus on where I am, I’m still surprised by how hard it can be to let go of the past, to let go of what God is calling me to do now. I know part of that is personal – I really don’t like endings – but part of it is a simple human response to the unknown.
As people of faith, many of us have had some solid experience with nostalgia and holding onto the past. Churches are notorious for the “that’s how we’ve always done it!” pattern of thinking and acting. Yet so much of our faith does require being well-versed in the past, as we spend time with scripture, worshiping in community and growing in our discipleship.
We can do both, be both. We are “both/and” people. We can delight in learning about our past, and we can delight in what God is doing now. We can be ready for a new phase in life and be sad about things changing. Through it all, what remains steady is the loving presence of God.
This message is excerpted from “The first day” by Jenna Pulkowski in the September 2018 Café online magazine. Today we commemorate Nikolai Frederik Severin Grundtvig, bishop, renewer of the church, 1872.
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