RANDY REFLECTS

Holding on While Letting Go 

Much of our life is about holding on and letting go. We learn to walk by holding on to furniture or grasping a finger. As balance comes, we start letting go. We hold on tightly to the myth of Santa Claus only to let go when being mature is more important. We hold on to parents then let go to move into adulthood. We hold tightly to the myths of eternal youth reluctantly letting go to middle age. We hold on to loved ones and then, let them go at the end of life. The list is endless. Life is filled with holding on and letting go.

As I was writing this article, I was interrupted. Someone moving from our community stopped by for prayer. She said, “I don’t let go very well.” None of us do, which is odd. Life is so much about holding on and letting go, we should be experts at it.

The key to doing both is to do both, to hold on as we let go. During any transition, holding tightly to faith, friends and family allows for letting go. Whether it is a death or birth, a move or a new job, a transition with children or with health, whatever the circumstances of life, whenever we are required to let go, hold on. Hold on to faith, to family, to community.

In the next month, we let go of being one congregation in one location. We become one church in two locations. As long as we’ve talked about it, as many years as we’ve planned for it, we can’t fully imagine what it will fully mean for us. There will be a great deal of letting go.

It is my plan to hold on. I hope it will be yours as well. I plan to hold on tightly to my faith, to my spiritual disciplines of prayer and study. In times of letting go, holding on to God is even more important. It is essential. I also plan to be intentional about holding on to you as my faith family and friends. Just as Jesus held on to his disciples from the beginning of his ministry, we hold on to each other as we expand our ministry. I intend to hold on to you as I let go and let God reshape our community.  In this time, I need you and we need each other. I hope you will hold on to me as I hold on to you. Then together, we can let go.