Our congregation is putting together a new picture directory. It's been fun to hang out downstairs talking to people as they arrive for their portraits. Some families or couples choose to be photographed in color-coordinated apparel. One member rushed in from work and may not have taken off his coat for the camera. Others look far fancier than I've ever encountered them on a Sunday morning. Then in comes those who have lost or divorced a spouse since the last directory several years ago. Being photographed alone isn't something they ever imagined doing. For some members, it might be a first family photo. For others, it will likely be the last. There are even some folks I've never seen in church, yet for some reason they still value the connection. Perhaps one day I will learn why.
Though we sometimes think of church as a stable place where change comes slowly, where people and attitudes can be stuck in the past, I find that our community is a fluid one, with people and mission coming and going at a pace that is sometimes unsettling in a lifetime that seems all too fleeting.
I will treasure this directory - a snapshot of people who have planted seeds of ministry and faith, of those who will water and weed, of those who will reap the harvest and turn over the soil. And between the pictures I will remember with gratitude those who are missing - the ones who have died and those who have, I hope, found other communities in which to thrive. With anticipation I will also imagine those who are yet to come, praying that this community's heart is big enough to welcome, embrace, equip, and send back into the world everyone God sends our way.
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