SUNDAY MORNING

from the pastor

Mike's letters from Sundays past...

September 7, 2003

The morning feels gentle and refreshing today. The air is tolerably nippy. A solitary car whisks down Windsor Road. A bird practices a solo three or four houses away. I imagine that all the plant life and vegetation is feeling smug these days: successfully abundant after all this rain, proliferation expectations exceeded.

I have been enjoying the geese this week. The sky has turned into a goose interstate—and one of the routes goes right through southeast Urbana. I am awed by the strength, orderliness, and grace of the birds in their flight. And I find myself curious about their origin and destination.

Speaking of migrations, I will be taking Alison back to DePaul in Chicago tomorrow morning. She is the last of our church’s college students to fly the coop (DePaul is on the quarter plan). It has been an interesting month as we have experienced so many young people in our church who are ‘moving on.’ At the same time, we are also the recipients of this annual ‘student migration.’

Marcia Burns and I have spent much of the past two days in some continuing education for our GRACE YEARS project. GRACE YEARS is an innovative approach, being developed by our own church staff, to serve retired persons in our community. We are recognizing the journey that claims the lives of all retired persons. Like young people going off to college, our elders too are in migration. It is a time of life when much that is familiar is left behind (jobs, some loved ones, places, familiar roles, stamina, income) and many unknowns lie ahead (new relationships, unfulfilled ambitions, new places of residence, end of life, health issues, discretionary time).

When I think of GRACE YEARS, I think of how the Methodist movement looked in the early 1800s. It was once said that when the pioneers moved west, they arrived to find jackrabbits and Methodist preachers there to welcome them. Methodism was once renowned as a movement that accompanied people on life’s journey—whether that journey was geographical, emotional, or spiritual.

GRACE YEARS is dedicated to the question: how can we be present to welcome the elders of our community as they arrive in those new places on life’s journey? Our continuing education this past weekend consisted of an intensive workshop with Mark and Karla Minear. Both of them work in the field of gerontology. Mark is a psychologist in a Veteran’s Home and Karla is the founder and director of a senior to senior volunteer program. They have been helping us develop a tool for building relationships called the "Life Review Process." We will be sharing much more about this in weeks to come.

I look forward to seeing you in church this morning. --Mike