day 34 - threaded.

In a few weeks, I will be finishing my time at the church that has been my ministry setting for nearly two years. As I approach this ending, and look with anticipation and excitement toward a new beginning, I feel so deeply touched by the relationships I have been blessed with. The young people at Trinity Lutheran Church are some of the most amazing people I have ever met. I have been so lucky to laugh with them, learn and serve beside them, worship with them, listen to their stories, and just be a witness to the amazing presence of God in each of them.

Over the last few years, and most especially the last few weeks, I have been able to share some incredible experiences. What I've been noticing lately, is how it has so little to do with the program. I mean, it is important to put time in care into planning worship and other experiences so that they have meaning. Planning is a central part to any healthy ministry. But the real beauty is in the unplanned moments. Staying up late laughing and talking about nothing and everything with Jr. High girls in a cabin. Eating pizza at Cal's campus or exploring bookstores with the High Schoolers. Those moments over coffee where we somehow move from talking about our favorite movie, to a funny story, to the deepest parts of ourselves and our faith.

In ministry, I learn more and more that my deepest regrets are not the times that didn't go according to plan, but the times I planned too much-- especially at the beginning of my ministry. Like so many ministers, I felt so much pressure to find the right program... I wish I hadn't so often forgotten that packing in games and programs and discussion topics and worrying if they would be well received, achieves little compared to just being with people. Listening to them, laughing with them, learning from them. In the end, ministry is the relationships we built, not the program we planned. I seem to be learning over and over that E. M. Forster's simple words, "Only connect," is the deepest truth of all.

So, for two years we have journeyed together, and now our lives are threaded together. I will feel a connection with each of them even when we don't see each other, and even if we someday lose touch. Now we are a part of one another, and because of that connection I feel more whole, and more connected with God... as if by being in relationship and community we are embodying something of Divinity here and now. We are a living, breathing Kingdom of God.

"We cannot live for ourselves alone. Our lives are connected by a thousand invisible threads..."

- Hermon Melville