June 30, 2020
To make an end is to make a beginning. – T.S. Eliot
It is hard to believe that this is my last newsletter article to you. From the moment I arrived at UUMidland five years ago, I have loved working with and being with you. Through your care, your sharing of your lives, and your contributions to our shared ministry, you have changed me as a person and as a minister. I will be leaving at the end of July with a full heart, carrying your names and stories with me.
Since I announced my departure in mid-March, my goal has been to help us have a “good ending,” because I believe being intentional about endings is a spiritual practice that reverberates into our other endings, past and future, and enables us to more powerfully move into next chapters. The pandemic has complicated those plans because we have not been able to be physically together, and because we have accordingly shifted our routines and rituals. I am sad about that and sorry to leave you during such a challenging time. It is difficult not being able to have that last potluck with you, to greet you one last time beneath the tree out front, to sing together, to linger in the foyer and share remembrances and gratitudes. However, I have been heartened that we have had such great involvement in our Zoom services, I have so enjoyed our phone conversations and text threads, and I am so grateful to all those who were able to drive by for the farewell parade. We have found many ways to connect during this time.
There are still also many ways to say goodbye. I am writing many letters during my last month as your minister, and I also encourage you to email, call, text, or write me in July if you want to connect – I welcome it! Our Sunday services for the last two Sundays of July will focus on ending our time intentionally. July 19th will focus on what we have done together as a congregation, and how you have impacted me as a minister. July 26th will focus more on the personal: how each of you has impacted me personally, and how every one of you are such important parts of this community.
In our tradition, there is an understanding, and even an explicit covenant among colleagues, that departed ministers should not be in contact with congregants for at least one year. This may seem strange, and indeed it is one of the stranger parts of the profession of ministry. But this experience of a true ending makes possible a new beginning. Many times, congregants try to keep the connection alive with the past minister to avoid the pain of letting go or of encountering change, which prevents them from being truly open to a generative relationship with the new minister. I don’t want you to miss out on that new relationship! Some of you may already be at peace with this, perhaps because you are aware of the boundaries ministers must consistently navigate in their role. Others may be ready – ready to meet and know your next minister! Others may find this truly disappointing and confusing. I hope that all can trust in the depth and truth of our relationship, even though it must end, at least for now. One exception we can make is to write snail-mail letters, if you like. You can contact the office or a member of the Care Team for my address in Albuquerque.
I am grateful for, proud of, and inspired by the great work we have done together in these five years. We have grown so much in health and in depth of engagement. I’ll tell more about concrete stories at our service on July 19th.
I am grateful for, humbled by, and changed from your vulnerability and courage in inviting me into your lives – your hospital rooms, your homes, your deepest questions, your fears, and your joys. I’ll talk more about this in our last service together on July 26th.
I am excited about your new chapter together sharing ministry with Rev. Julie Lombard! Rev. Julie and I have been in many conversations – and will be in many more – as we are both committed to helping facilitate a good transition.
As you cross the many thresholds before you right now – this congregation’s shift in ministry, the challenges of the pandemic, our world’s many current reckonings – I invite you to deepen into your spiritual practices, to commit even more thoroughly to community and relationship, and to remember the individual self is a fiction – we are wound and bound together. Let’s get free together.
Thank you for the privilege of serving as your minister. I’m always rooting for you.
With love and gratitude,
Rev. Emily Wright-Magoon
