Content or Contemp?

I received a phone call one afternoon from my D.S. sharing with me news that I didn't expect. I was told that the cabinet was appointing me to another church come July 1. Now, as a soon-to-be United Methodist elder, I know that appointments are for 1 year at a time. I was blessed to have been at my current churches for 3. But, it doesn't make leaving any easier.

As soon as I heard the news, life started to change. Questions were on my brain. What will the new congregation be like? Will they accept me? Will there be issues around my gender and age? How will my current churches react? Who is going to follow me? Have I been a good pastor to follow?

There were lots of questions and there still are. Life is changing. I am moving. I am being ordained. Life is a whirlwind. In the midst of so many questions and change how do embrace what lies ahead of me? I need to be open. I need space to grieve. I need time to process. I need God's grace to carry me. The next month is going to full of joy and sadness. It will be a time of welcoming and a time of saying goodbye. It will be a time of preparing. It will be a time to embrace something new.

I attended the Bishop's retreat for those being commissioned or ordained this year. It was a blessing to get to know new people and strengthen relationships that have already been established. The Bishop shared many words of wisdom but one was quite powerful. She was preaching on Ephesians and on the issue of contentment. The title of her sermon was Content or Contempt. She stressed that we should be content, through it all. Life is going to throw us curve balls but we have the choice to be content (for true contentment is in the Lord) or to be bitter and angry. I choose to be content. I choose to be content in the Lord no matter what lies ahead. For I know that God goes with me on this journey. God is already loving me and I get to love God and God's people back. That is my calling. That is where I find contentment. Where do you?