The last time...

Yesterday I led the service and gave the sermon at my church. The last time until I return. Our congregation is small - between 15 and 30 people on a Sunday, depending on all the variables that come along in life… It is a strong community, a loving community and I wanted to serve them with grace and clarity. 

I had promised myself to trust the sermon I wrote the day before, not to try and improve on it. I had promised myself to breathe all through the service, to stay grounded, to be with my people. And they held me up, just as they've been doing all along. The expression used - 'locally raised up' - usually refers to people who train and then serve locally. I am going away to train but as I kept my promises to myself, for them, I felt the people of my church raising me up. I felt the sweetness of Spirit flowing through me as I offered them my sermon, the one I wrote for them. 

At the end I was startled to find our priest, the one who gave me the query for my call, had slipped into the congregation during communion. He came forward and joined with our retired priest to bless me. They blessed me and sent me out, releasing me to my journey. And blessed is exactly how I felt. It was all intense, bittersweet, like a river of trust and Light flowing through me. 

Today, remembering how that was, I return to my mantra - All will be well and all will be well, and all manner of things shall be well...  Knowing God's got it, I see that all will unfold as it should.