The Stories That Carry Us
Years ago, I served as the pastor of a small congregation in New Jersey. The faithful people of that community faced the truth that we no longer had the resources or capacity to continue as we were. Unsure of what to do, we decided, first, to do what we always did: we gathered around scripture. I asked this question, “Which Bible character, or story, do you feel a kinship with? What story are we living today? Who faced similar challenges?”
Our leaders prayerfully named all sorts of stories. Hilda said that we were like Abram and Sarai as they stepped into a journey of an unknown destination, “going to the place where God would lead them.” Grace shared how we were like Noah on the ark, holding onto each other, trusting that God would deliver us. Others talked about being led by God, our Good Shepherd or that we just need to pray, “thy will be done.”
In telling stories from scripture, we realized that we were in good company. God has been leading people through the valley of the shadow of death for generations. We were not the first to face unknown futures, to have to say goodbye to familiar places, and step into something new. God has carried people through endings and into beginnings before, and God would do it again, for us.
These stories gave our congregation the courage to claim that their most faithful next step would be to end their ministry, sell the building, and give everything away. Strengthened by a knowledge of what a church does – worship faithfully, serve courageously, love boldly – they realized they could no longer do those things as God intended. But in closing, they could leave a lasting legacy and invest themselves in new things, continuing their witness and faithfulness in new places.
Joseph Sittler wrote that “All things are more bearable if we make a story of them. And ultimate desolations are made both bearable and significant when the story is the Ultimate Story.” Moments of desolation, things like stepping away from a beloved church building and saying goodbye to beloved friends, seem too heartbreaking to consider. But they become bearable when we remember that God is working in them, just as God has always worked in the lives of God’s people. God is bringing new beginnings now, just as God brought new life to the exiles in Babylon, to Jesus’ friends in the days after Jesus’ resurrection and ascension, to Noah, and Sarah and Abraham.
Now, 15 years after the congregation I loved closed its doors for the last time, I wonder what stories the saints from that now closed congregation would name. In the years since our closing, our building is now home to another thriving Orthodox community. Our resources have supported dozens of seminarians, funded wells for clean water access and health programs around the world, and funded music lessons for future church organists.
Maybe our people would connect their story with that of the mustard seed, about how small things grow into something big. Perhaps they’d resonate with those disciples on the road to Emmaus, who after being unable to see Jesus due to their grief and disappointment, came to realize that he’d been right next to them the whole time. Maybe they would say that they are like Sarah, having laughed at the impossibility of a new beginning only to be miraculously given one.
For me, I find kinship with Isaiah who named that the waters of grief and shame, which seem powerful enough to overwhelm us, will not drown us. In the goodness of new beginnings, on the other side of sadness, I feel a bit like Miriam, dancing on the far side of the Red Sea, experiencing the steady soil of the place long promised.
The ultimate desolations are bearable and significant, when we connect them to the Ultimate Story. God, in Jesus, continues to bring new life, to carry us through the hard things. Just as God has for generations, God is doing so today, even now, among us.
Pastor Sara Olson-Smith is an ordained ELCA pastor, serving at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Davenport, Iowa. A graduate of the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, she previously served two congregations in New Jersey, one of which she accompanied in their closing. She is the author of award winning Bible studies in the Women of the ELCA’s “Gather” Magazine, among other writings. Her website is www.saraolsonsmith.com.
Sara’s most recent book is Eulogy for a Faithful Church: The Story of a Congregation’s Courageous Ending and Enduring Legacy. If you are looking for comfort or encouragement as your church walks towards closure, we invite you to purchase Sara’s book on Bookshop. The Good Friday Collaborative is a Bookshop.org affiliate and will receive a small commission on purchases made through the previous link.
