Last Goodbye

This is our last goodbye

I hate to feel the love between us die

But it's over

Just hear this and then I'll go

You gave me more to live for

More than you'll ever know

- Jeff Buckley, “Last Goodbye”

I’ve had this song stuck in my head for a couple of days now.  Jeff Buckley is one of my all-time favorite musicians, and while his song is definitely about a painful break-up (and not about leaving a beloved church), I love how the first line ends with hope: “you gave me more to live for // more than you’ll ever know.”

By the way: if you’re reading this and thinking, “What in the world is he talking about?”  I’d encourage you to read the following letter – sent out to the FPC family back in August – to help clarify.  Exciting new calling, crazy timing, and God’s provision are big themes I hope the letter presents to you:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/3whzlcwig5nwfdg/fpcfamilylettertf.docx?dl=0

Back to Jeff Buckley.  Our time at FPC has been endlessly life-giving.  Sometimes, pastors find that their first call out of seminary is a grind.  The opposite is true of our time at FPC.  Four years in the Grand Valley has revealed a vision of God’s kingdom which I could never have imagined.  The people who love and follow Jesus here are genuinely committed to serving our neighbors, to being a blessing for the sake of Christ, and to rolling up our sleeves and getting our hands dirty in the work of community.  For that, I’m deeply grateful.

Someone asked me when we moved to Colorado four years ago, “So does this mean you’re going to become a Rockies or Broncos fan?”  I would argue – as I did then – that there’s very little that feels quite as disingenuous as simply adopting the guise of a local fan when you move to a new part of the country.  So, no, we’re not leaving Colorado with our fan-ship realigned.  However, we’re leaving with our hearts changed and more adept at the work of ministry.  We know more about our calling together as a family.  And as we’ve experienced abundantly lately (especially in finding a buyer for our Colorado home and a new rental home in Washington) as God has provided for us in tremendous ways throughout our journey, so will He continue to provide in the next stage.

This will be my last entry for “Grand Mission, Grand Valley.”  It’s been a lot of fun to write and to hear feedback.  Thanks to all of you who have read faithfully and enjoy the content.  I’ll be blogging again soon at a new site, and I’ll make sure the office at FPC knows the new web address to pass along to anyone interested in my musings and mental wanderings.  :)

I’ll close this chapter of the journey with a quote from Wesley Hill, a writer and seminary professor who wrote a great piece on saying “goodbye” in Christianity Today:

Rather than downplaying the significance of saying goodbye, [pastor and theologian Dietrich] Bonhoeffer wanted to experience the full force of a farewell. “[W]e have to suffer indescribably from the separation,” he wrote. Only in that way “do we sustain communion with the people we love, even if in a very painful way.” God keeps our goodbyes painful, Bonhoeffer said, in order to highlight how vital our past togetherness was.

So these days, whenever I have to move away from friends, or bid farewell to friends moving away from me, I try to let myself mourn. With Bonhoeffer, I grieve the physical distance that will yawn between my friends and me. Rather than immediately imagining the future bridge that will close the gap, I want to acknowledge the ache of it in the present and not rush too quickly into comfort.

The word goodbye is actually a contraction of “God be with you.” Saying goodbye is important, in the end, because it’s one way of reminding each other that we are God’s bodily creatures. We want him to watch over us and keep our love for one another alive, right now, even before the day of our eventual reunion.

- Wesley Hill, “A Severe Separation”

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2014/october/saying-goodbye-for-good.html

 Thanks again for reading and being a part of the journey with me.

Solo Dei gloria,

Travis

Leadership and the Pope

(Photo: Evan Vucci/AP - yahoo.com)

I got to take the trip of a lifetime with my brother, James, and my grandparents shortly after I graduated from high school.  We spent two weeks in Italy, getting into all kinds of sticky situations (we rented a car rather than using Italy's great trains to get around the country, which is a mistake only Americans would make), enjoying fantastic food, and being surrounded by beautiful countryside and architecture.  My late grandfather's family name was "Papa," which confused countless Italian schoolchildren whenever we'd walk around their town saying, "Papa" to my grandad.  "Papa" is also the name given to the Pope, who (you might have heard) made a historic visit to the United States this week.

I was reading an article yesterday that featured a quote from "Il Papa" that really stuck with me.  The article's title read: "Pope challenges Congress to be better; Congress continues as usual."  You can read the whole article at 

(https://popevisit2015.yahoo.com/post/129799290959/pope-challenges-congress-to-be-better-congress).  

I've read through the following quote several times and I'm still impressed by it.

“Each son or daughter of a given country has a mission, a personal and social responsibility. Your own responsibility as members of Congress is to enable this country, by your legislative activity, to grow as a nation. You are the face of its people, their representatives. You are called to defend and preserve the dignity of your fellow citizens in the tireless and demanding pursuit of the common good, for this is the chief aim of all politics. A political society endures when it seeks, as a vocation, to satisfy common needs by stimulating the growth of all its members, especially those in situations of greater vulnerability or risk. Legislative activity is always based on care for the people. To this you have been invited, called and convened by those who elected you.”

Wow.  What a great quote.  Pope Francis has some interesting opinions and theological positions, not all of which I agree with.  This quote, though, is quite a statement to make to our elected leaders - and to anyone who leads.  I especially like one of his closing lines: "Legislative activity is always based on care for the people."  The same goes for ministry, and I think Pope Francis understands that very well.

Solo Dei gloria,

Travis

My Lawnmower Retired and Forgot to Tell Me About It

One of the things I’ve most enjoyed (seriously) about our home here in Colorado is our yard.  My kids get to play on soft, green grass, and it’s just a good-sized yard for our home and our needs.  But my partner in yard maintenance is a grump at best.  I have the crankiest lawnmower.  I’m thinking that it’s just endemic to the species that all lawnmowers have problems with their owners.  Mine is terrible to start, and the auto-drive feature (which I didn’t know about for the first year or so of our working relationship) is broken now, but this week, it finally came to a head.

It just wouldn’t start.  I tried every trick in the book – even calling over my neighbor to give it a pull – but that thing would not get back on the job.  I think my lawnmower has finally hit 65, cashed in the 401(k), and hung it all up on the wall.  Great.  Now what?

Both of my next door neighbors use an old-fashioned “push” mower: no engine, no gasoline, just a handle for pushing and a series of blades for chopping.  They both have very modest-sized yards, so the extra effort for a push mower works well for their needs.  I borrowed my neighbor’s push mower this past Saturday when I couldn’t start my apparently- (and newly-) retired mower, adjusted the setting, and went to work.

I really enjoyed it.  I’ve actually always enjoyed yard work because it’s good time to think, pray, and settle into a task which isn’t remotely connected to my daily vocation.  When I’m mowing my yard (and edging, and blowing, and cleaning up anything else that needs attention), I feel a lot of peace.  I felt even more peace as I used the push mower.  I enjoyed the quiet, soft whirrrr of the blades and took my time as I mowed, making sure each area was well-covered.  It took a lot more time to mow this way, but I certainly enjoyed it more.

How often do we get to simplify something that's already simple?  The task of caring for my yard isn't rocket science (although I'll be the first to admit that my work after running over and breaking one of my sprinkler heads starts to feel a lot like surgery), and adding the push mower to the mix isn't a time saver.  But it was a better experience: more peaceful, more contemplative, and way less noisy. I’m glad that this time around, God gave me the gift of a deeply satisfying morning in my yard, taking more time but enjoying peace to a greater degree than ever before.  Wendell Berry would be proud.

Solo Dei gloria,

Travis

Biblical Leadership: Series End, Reflections

This past week, we finished up our summer sermon series on biblical leadership.  We finally landed the plane on a definition of biblical leadership: Biblical leadership, the calling of all Jesus-followers, is humble and communal, carried forth by servants and stewards.

We then took time to think about the four main parts of that definition and how we can connect them both to the Bible and to our lives: humble, communal, servants, stewards.  Everyone got a four-part grid and was encouraged to fill in their own ideas.  I mentioned that I'd be sharing my ideas about each component of biblical leadership, and that's what I've posted below.

Humble: based on Jason’s sermon last week, Barnabus rose to the top of my list of humble leaders.  And remember – one of our big themes this summer is that the gospel is first and foremost humility.  Because Jesus has done everything for us, we can take no credit and comfortably enjoy a humble position before the Lord and others.  Personally, Jim Singleton is one of the most humble leaders I’ve ever known.

Communal: At Wednesday Bible study, someone mentioned that Jesus’ feeding of the 5,000 is a huge example of communal (community-focused) leadership.  I couldn’t agree more.  At the personal level, a family here at FPC continues to lead our community in feeding hungry kids through the KidsAid backpack program.  That’s a community-focused initiative which always needs supplies and volunteers.  Contact Debe Colby (outreach@firstpresgj.org) if you want to help.

Stewards: A friend of mine told me this week that Joseph is a great example of biblical stewardship.  When God warned Joseph in a dream about the coming famine in Egypt, he stockpiled food not just for himself but for the whole nation.  Back to the personal – the gospel is joyful generosity, and this approach to giving has been modeled to me throughout my life by my parents.  They give and give with joy and marvel at what God does through their giving.

Servants: One of the biblical leaders we discussed in this part of the sermon series was John the Baptist.  Do you remember what the angel told John’s dad his mission would be?  Make ready a people prepared for the Lord.  No glorious parades for John or accolades or bestselling books on leadership.  He was a servant of the Messiah, and his leadership set the standard for all the New Testament leaders who followed.  I thought of Mike Stahl from Hilltop, one of the community leaders we honored this summer, and the great question he asks his staff: “What’s one thing I can do for you today to make your job better tomorrow?”  A servant leader asks that question and follows through with the answer, and I’m so glad Mike shared that insight with us.

I hope these insights are helpful, and I hope that the journey of leadership continues for all of us.

Solo Dei gloria,

Travis