A Fond Farewell

This is the last article I wrote for the Circuit Rider at Asbury.
I was adapting my Face book page the other night. Face book, for those less computer savvy, is a networking tool over the internet where you can include information about yourself and track friends. It is highly addictive. There is a section that asks my religious view; I used to have United Methodist. I have changed that section to read, Love covers a multitude.

As I step down in leadership from Asbury, I believe that is the lesson and example from you, the congregation, which I will hold closest to me. In all that we have lived through in the last years, I believe Asbury loves and loves well. Asbury has loved me from day one.

I have fond memories of laughter and nights on the fellowship hall floor with children gathered all around me. I spent my first summer at camps with a trio of young ladies who took more stuffed animals with them than Toys R Us owns. I have learned the fine art of leading a donkey through a parade, getting said donkey to cooperate is a different matter all together. I have held newborn babies, helped name them, and been present when they are baptized, and cried with others when the outcome was not as we hoped. I have held hands in prayer of thanksgiving, praise, consolation, desperation, and joy. I have seen love demonstrated in so many instances it is hard to name them all.

Personally, you have seen my oldest grow before your eyes and you have taken him in and adopted him as one of your own. You watched as I grew with Atticus and took care of me when the road became tough. You have upheld my family in prayer and encouraging support, you have shown us love. You have welcomed Mike to another way of thinking and learning about Christ. To think, we were both Lutheran before all this started.

I have to pause for a minute as I sniffle through this last part. My decision to release my leadership position here did not come without much thought and prayer. My Walk to Emmaus this past spring solidified the definition of love and grace for me in a way that I cannot describe. As I think about the phrase Love covers a multitude, I know that it applies to me as well. I came here not trained in ministry and found a community willing to embrace me. Through some of my own blunders, this same community buoyed me up and taught me some valuable lessons. I received forgiveness. This community knew I did not come from a typical background. I received grace. I learned from staff that taught me everything from boundaries, to trust and laughter, and unconditional love. I have laughed with these staff members, cried and hurt with them, and rejoiced in the work Christ has done in their lives. I am a better person for having worked with them. I am a better person for having served you, the Asbury community.

If I could leave one bit of advice it would be this: Love one another, please. People are coming through the doors with all sorts of woundedness. We are all wounded on some level. Love makes all the difference. It really does. What years of old tapes running through our heads can make us believe, love can erase. What years of memories can shape our vision, love can refine. Andrew Lloyd Weber said it quite well, “Love changes everything, how you live and how you die. Love will never, never let you be the same.”

I know that I will never be the same person I was walking through the doors 3 ½ years ago. I am indelibly changed. Love changed everything for me. Thank you Asbury, may love change you too. ~cal~