Finish (Five Minute Friday)

The air was still. I looked out at the faces, the tears. We were prayed for, deep heartfelt prayers. And in silence, hand in hand we walked out the door of that treasured space. It was our last Sunday of the church we had planted and watered and loved. We knew, as much as you can know, that it was time for the ‘next’.

Saying goodbye to that which you have loved and invested in and fought for….it is hard. But it can be honorable and good. We had had our goodbye party and lots and lots of beautiful words. And on this last Sunday, they had asked “Can we honor you with silence? With marking the weight of what you have done and to feel the impact of your leaving?”

And so we did. In that church basement space in a neighborhood in Seattle. The prayer ended. Long, hard looks around the room. Full, abundant silence. With each face, seeing hundreds of stories. Silence that takes away pretense and saying what we think we should say. Silence that acknowledged an ending, an absence. A slow unwinding of tightly held emotions.

A quiet that let the Holy Spirit usher in the finish. It may have been moments or hours, then in response to a silent signal we moved toward the exit.

I held on so tightly to my husband’s hand. The soft sound of the door closing behind us magnified in my memory. We sat in our car for a moment wondering “what now?”

I don’t know how long they sat in silence or what it felt like to remain in the room. But I know what it felt like to be so cared for in a goodbye. A marker to a glorious chapter. A faint glimpse of well done good and faithful servant. Space in my soul to take it all in.

Starting and finishing. Joy and trials. Celebrating and grieving. Grace in it all.

Linking today with Five Minute Friday.  Next week will be Lisa Jo’s last week hosting, please read her lovely announcement on Finish, here.

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