The Gathering, 8 September 2013
Seven years ago this month a group of people joined with
Divine Spirit and began co-creating something completely and totally unique in
San Angelo and in West Texas. This creation gradually became The Gathering
UCC.
I have been privileged and honored (as well as initially
surprised) to be the planting pastor of The Gathering. The experience, as well as the community, are
wonderful gifts, and I am excited about The Gathering's future. So, it is only after much prayer and
prayerful conversation, and with much grief, that I have decided that my season
in those roles is coming to completion.
The reasons for this decision now include:
1)
A change in my Hospice of San Angelo job time
and energy requirements. Because my full-time job is taking up more time and
space, I have increasingly less time and
availability for Gathering responsibilities and opportunities.
2)
Neil and I have been given the incredible gifts
of his new life and health. Increasingly
aware of the preciousness of time, I am choosing to spend time with Neil and
other family members in ways not related to working or doctor's visits.
3)
I have depleted my internal resources and am
weary. I am choosing to do what we often
talk about at The Gathering – slow down, be mindful of the present, observe the
Sabbath time of rest. In addition, my
weariness impacts/affects The Gathering.
Given all the above, I
believe The Gathering will be well served by new leadership from someone who
has a different kind of availability and energy than do I at this point.
However much I have sown, watered, tended, and loved this
sacred community, The Gathering is not my
faith community – it is the Spirit’s, it is yours, it is The
Gathering’s. And, if we believe it's
God's, then we know it's future is bigger than any one of us in
particular.
Two of the strengths of The Gathering from the beginning is
the collaborative, cooperative nature, as well as the depth of creativity and
giftedness in the group. These will
serve The Gathering well in the days ahead.
In addition, Rev. Douglas Anders, Conference Minister of the South
Central Conference UCC, will help provide guidance and suggest next steps.
We cannot know what’s next.
That’s the scary part, and if allowed, that fear can become
overwhelming. But not knowing what's
next is also the exciting part, the hopeful part, the faithful part, because it
means again, we're opening ourselves to the dynamic, sacred workings of the
Spirit – which is what we've been trying to do since September 2006. So hear and know again the hope and power
offered by these sacred words from thousands of years ago: “See, I am about to
do a new thing; now it springs forth... I will make a way in the wilderness and
rivers in the desert.” (Isaiah 43:19)
Karen Schmeltekopf
