Treasuring the old, making room for the new
Some things we plan. Some just happen. Either way, we somehow sense, and even know, what is right at the time.
To be more specific, Gloria and I are moving in again. We moved in for the first time in August 2000. After driving through breathtakingly beautiful country and spectacular, yet ominous, fires in the Bitterroots we arrived in Spokane just in time to meet the moving van.
We moved in, which means we unpacked the boxes, arranged the furniture, and hurriedly made this home (thanks to Gloria) with an ordination service and start-up of a new ministry prominently on our minds.
As I write this column, we are moving in again, physically – and spiritually. Without planning or scheduling it, we discovered without discussion that it was time, time to rearrange, and time to discard what was necessary seven years ago, but is no longer. Almost automatically we are now rearranging as who we are, not who we were in August 2000.
We are of course the same people we were but, thanks to you and the privilege of living, learning, and loving in this diocese, we are different – and this diocese is different. What was right in 2000 served well, even beautifully, but it is not in all ways the right fit now.
So the Bishop’s Residence in Paulsen House is taking on a different look. Rugs have gone, Gloria’s creativity has been at work, and the interior is clearly not the same. It is becoming the vision that time and experience have given us. The apartment is new again and the changes are rejuvenating, bringing a freshness that reflects what it means to be involved in God’s new creation.
As we anticipate the new Church Year this fall, I am mindful of Jesus’ teaching that, “Every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like the master of a household who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.” (Matt. 13:52)
In our congregations, to be alive to one another and vital to the world around us, we are called to draw from the old we bring forth from our treasure, and also be open to the new, those treasures that have arrived more recently, those that are especially for the now.
My hope is that this is true for you and us as a Diocese, that we will find reason and opportunities to move in again, treasuring what was before and also giving attention to new arrangements and opportunities that are renewing. Doing this together as a diocese must somehow be a Godly activity, for it surely does feel that way where Gloria and I live.
