This piece was prepared in December 2006 as a "farewell" message to the congregation in Roscoe. As I look back at it today, I see in it something just as pertinent for today. Therefore, I am compelled to share it with you.
Today is the end of one year; tomorrow is the beginning of a new one. Today is the end of one relationship; tomorrow will be the beginning of a new one. Like it or not, change will happen, is going to happen. By the time you are reading this, I will have finished my pastorate in Roscoe and will have retired to my home in Middletown. We will have said our “Good-byes,” and begun the first steps toward a new beginning. Nothing can stay the same and remain vital.
Are you the same at this moment as you were five minutes ago? No, you are not. If nothing else, you are five minutes older, and therefore, you have changed. You cannot go back to being the person you were five minutes ago. In the same fashion, you can not live in the future as you do now; for to go into the future, you must change. Not a single thing continues without changing. Our very existence depends upon the constant changing that take places. Without change, life ceases to exist.
Without change stagnation takes place. Have you ever taken a drink from a stagnant pool of water? Even if you avoided getting sick, I am sure that you instantly noticed that the water in that pool both smelled bad and tasted horrible. Stagnate water is full of dead organisms; organisms which, when alive and active, are beneficial to you when you drink the water. But once that water becomes stagnate, those organisms cease to be alive and no longer have the sustenance needed to sustain life. We human beings need fresh water, water teeming with those microscopic things we don’t even think about, in order to be hydrated properly. Without water, we humans would perish in a matter of days. We need water, living, physical water, that has not become stagnant to stay alive. We need water that is constantly changing, so that our bodies, which are also constantly changing, will be constantly nourished and hydrated.
Neither can our intellectual existence continue without changing. Our storehouse of intellectual knowledge is constantly changing and being renewed on a daily basis. We learn something new or different every day, or our minds begin to stagnate. We may not be able to see a stagnant mind with our eyes, or smell it with our noses, but the senses of our minds can detect the results of a stagnated mind. A stagnant mind has loss the ability to enjoy even the beauty of a sunrise or a sunset; a stagnant mind is unable to detect the pleasures of childhood memories, or of the anticipation of future joys. When the mind becomes stagnant, it ceases to have the abilities of reason and recognition. A stagnant mind cannot make decisions, nor even greet friends, since it can no longer recognize one thing from another, or one individual from another.
It is no less different with our spiritual lives. Our spiritual existence is dependent upon change. If there is any hope in uniting the very souls within us with the Creator of our living souls, then we must have spiritual change, daily growth and change, so that we may grow spiritually closer to the source of our very existence.
Yet, as we look back and see the constant changing that has taken place, and will continue to take place, in our lives, there is one thing that has remained constant for us: That is the Love which God has continually poured out for us. How much we have received is wholly dependent upon how much we have been willing to accept. You see, God pours out his love for us, but he does not force us to accept it. We have the choice of refusing to accept God’s love. We can choose to be oblivious to God’s love; we can choose to be engrossed in our own little world, a world separated from God’s love by our own petty selfishness. But that is a world of chaos, a world without hope of anything better. When we become willing to accept God’s love, the world in which we live may still be an imperfect world, but it does have Hope. And that, my friends, is a bigger, and greater, and richer, treasure than all the worldly treasures that seek to lead us away from the Love of God.
As I look back on the last three and a half years, I see where opportunities for change were initiated and fully accepted. To those who looked upon those opportunities and grabbed the challenge with gusto, I pray that your daring will be rewarded. For those who may have been initially apprehensive of such changes, yet dared to “give it a try,” I pray that your willingness will bring you new acceptance of change around you. And if anyone only “went along for the ride,” I pray that the experience has made a difference in your life.
As I prepare to move on into the New Year, choosing to accept God’s Love and plans for me, I invite you to accept that Love, too. God promises, in accepting God’s love, a change will come into your life, a change that will give you a new life and an ever constant Hope.