A farewell letter to Christ Church

The following is a letter written to the congregation of Christ Church where I have served first as an Assistant and then an Associate Priest. 

It was suggested to me that on this my last day I shouldn’t be sentimental or teary.  I thought, what are they going to do, fire me?  So here we go.

My brothers and sisters in Christ I pray for you daily and ask for God’s continued blessing on this community.

          It is through the grace of God and through the work of the Holy Spirit that I have been given the opportunity to become part of this body of Christ. Together we have embarked on a wonderful journey, which, also due to God’s grace, must now come to an end.

          But we have learned through the continued teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ that our love has no beginning and no end. Once our lives have become intertwined in the body of Christ we are always part of one another. By bringing us together, however briefly, we have all been changed.

          Christ Church, upon my arrival, was almost a century old. The things that make a church – the people who gather in this space to pray, to remember and to hope, was fully present long before I arrived. And this love and spirit will continue long after I leave.

          My brothers and sisters, the Lord has seen fit to call me into the ministry of Christ but the true ministry of this place is performed by all of you. I am, as a priest in the household of God, a moveable piece. It is my job to come, to join, to be a part of a community long standing and then to be called away. But the time between my first day and my last I have witnessed, led, learned, loved, and lived the love of Christ through you.

          Your willingness to follow me from adult Sunday school, to provocative book studies and even across the ocean to the land of the Holy One has been my greatest joy and privilege. Your openness to being uncertain, your honesty in articulating your most privately held questions, your willingness to cry out ‘where is God’ in your despair, all of these things have made you stronger in faith and deeper in love.

          With compassion I have seen you respond to those most in need and have been especially blessed by you lifting me up when I have been overcome by hardship and misery. The heart of this community is clear not in word only but that heart truly is lived out through compassionate action. The mutual support and assistance selflessly offered by this congregation is truly a reflection of God’s love and grace.

          You have invited me into your lives in your sorrow, in your doubt, and in your sickness. We have celebrated births and again at the end of life. Together we have journeyed through the turbulent waters of hard times and together we have experienced joy and laughter. A lot of laughter. And through all of this, through the ups and downs our love of God and for one another has grown deeper and more assured.

          I have been but a passenger in the ongoing life of this community and I take heart in knowing that it will flourish even after I am gone.

          It has been, brothers and sisters, a privilege and an honour to have been given this opportunity to have joined you for a time. Surely I have learned more from all of you than I ever could have taught. Surely I have been loved more than I knew was possible. We have laughed until our sides hurt and cried until there were no more tears. Together, through Christ, we have become more fully human.

          You have changed my life. It is my greatest hope that somehow my presence has touched you all in some positive way. I am so grateful that God saw fit to put us together for a period of time. In the case of Christ Church you are the vine and I am the branch. I have grown from being grounded in your love and compassion and now I am called to take and share that fruit with others.

          Have faith. Have doubt. Laugh, a lot. Cry with abandon. Hug often. Love deeply and live fully. This is what Christ calls us to do as we endeavour to become most fully human.

          I pray for you always. I thank God for you. I thank you for welcoming me, embracing me, for calling me friend and for empowering me to go. 

          And for all of that and for all of you, thanks be to God.

^© Tara Livingston, 2013