Pastor's Message for April, 2008
Lightening the Load
Janet and I are discovering, in preparing to leave the manse in June after 26 years, what many other "nesters" before us have discovered: it is unbelievable how much household accumulation mark that many years of life in one place. We, who never thought of ourselves as conspicuous collectors of odds and ends - expensive accoutrements or bargain basement treasures - are coming to realize that even small piles of bits and pieces add up to a mountain of matter to be dealt with when the time finally comes to move on.
What to take...what to toss... what to donate... what to parcel out to family... what to sell... what to shred. What might be taken to a new place... and discovered untouched after another 15 years or so? What might be deep-sixed for which a need might arise in 6 or so months?
I am also astounded at how many books have filled every available bookshelf in those years, plus the many carried here 26 years ago. Today I took the final 8 large boxes of books to the Princeton Seminary annual Book Sale, adding to the 8 I had taken over last month. It was hard at first to say goodbye to these books - some treasured ones, yes, but even the ones I barely looked at but just knew I'd get to read someday. Books bring many associations of time and place and circumstance, they beckon one back to what was happening in a life, a family, a church, a society, a world, in the season the book was read. But I found that once I had bid farewell to the first batch, the sense of "saying goodbye to good friends" was replaced by the grace of "lightening the load" one takes on the life journey. And that is the way we are coming to feel about disposing of other things - the once important but now superfluous household items. It feels good to be preparing to travel a little bit lighter into the next phase of our life adventure. So a necessity becomes a blessing.
Of course, the process has also brought some chuckles along the way. "Now exactly what is this? I don't remember even buying it?" Or maybe "Can you believe we ever thought we'd actually need something like this?" or "Remember the Christmas when these (yogurt makers, fondue pots, bread-makers, you name it) were all the rage?"
It can sometimes feel overwhelming in moving through the many piles of accumulated goods, family "keepers." and once oft-used equipment (anyone need a vintage Nordic Track?). We have tried to keep grounded in all of this by taking to heart the wisdom expressed by Anne Lamott in her book on writing, Bird By Bird. The story that gives the book its title comes out of her school days and concerns her younger brother, who in school was given the assignment of writing a report on all the birds who were native to their geographic area. Having put off any work on the assignment for many weeks, he found himself, the night before it was due, in near despair, sitting at the table with books and articles and blank notebook papers spread out before him.
Completely overwhelmed at the prospect of completing the assignment in time, he wailed, "This is impossible! How am I ever going to get this done by tomorrow morning?" His father looked at him: "Bird by bird, Buddy - bird by bird."
That's how we're "deconstructing" the manse - "bird by bird" - but also with the growing sense of blessing that it's good to lessen the load of life and travel lighter on the journey stretching ahead - and that it would probably be a good thing to do this "load-lightening" much more frequently than most of us tend to do. But then, oftimes necessity bears the just the gift of grace we need.
Faithfully,
Rev. Dr. Floyd W. Churn
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