"Turn, Turn, Turn"

Ecclesiastes 3:1-13

For everything there is a season and a time for every matter under heaven, says the writer of Ecclesiastes.  Sounds like a time for reflection as we turn the page to a near year.  Reflect on what you would say to "fill in the blanks" on each of these lines...

A time to be born.... who was born to your family or friends last year, will be born to you this year? ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ (I had two babies born in my extended family last year, a cousin and a great-nephew.  This year a college graduate will be born into my immediate family) 

And a time to die.... who passed from this life to the next last year in your family? ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________((In our church family, Chuck Sorenson, Jim Anderson, Sue Schoonover and Ed Freymiller. In my own family my granddaddy-in-law Bill Justis and his sister, my great-aunt-in-law Katherine, and our sweet cat of 15 years Moses)

A time to plant... what have you planted this past year? (actual or metaphorically)_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________What has our congregation planted this past year in the way of ideas, programs, projects? Is a community garden on the way? ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

(We planted a NUMC family mission trip to UMCOR West Depot, we planted an Outreach Fund, ...)

And a time to pluck up what is planted.... what have we decided to let go of this year ? We should name and grieve them.  ______________________________

_________________________________________________________________

(We applied for and were not selected to receive a Lilly Grant for Clergy Renewal.  Disappointing on many levels for me, personally.  We lost Karen Driver as our admin assistant... though we did gain Anna back.  We lost Susan Warren as choir director... though we did gain some good applicants. What else? )

A time to kill ... (what in the life of the congregation has been “killed?”) ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ (We have lost some of our vitality and have not been able to fund wider mission in full most of the year. We have lost members to moves and death. We have lost needed income. What else? )

And a time to heal... what healing have you experienced in the last year? _______

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ (I have gained a personal healing, of sorts, of the pain I feel as the denomination continues to fight over LGBTQ equality in the denomination... through the election of our new Bishop Karen Oliveto.  Her election made me take a foot I had put out the door and place it back in the door for now.)

Let's take some time this week to both weep and laugh together. Speaking our truths in love and embracing one another as we turn, turn, turn and head to a new page... a new chapter that is, necessarily, imprinted with our struggles and disappointments of the past, and also our joys and celebrations.  Keep in mind, though, that the 'rest of the story' in this book we call Niwot UMC has yet to be written and let us resolve to make this the best chapter yet.

I invite you to print out and fill out the blanks on this blog post and bring it with you to worship this week.  10:20 on Sunday, 7405 Lookout Road.  Bring someone new with you this week, too.  There's plenty of room to spare in this new chapter we are writing.

Comments? Email at peverhart@niwotumc.org of click the comment link below.

From Bob Seger's song "Turn the Page," you might reflect on these lyrics:

Most times you can't hear 'em talk, other times you can
All the same old clichés: "Is it woman? Is it man?"
And you always seem outnumbered, so you don't dare make a stand

Here I am, on a road again
There I am, on the stage
Here I go, playing star again
There I go, turn the page