Wednesday, September 24, 2014










Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall.
F. Scott Fitzgerald


Autumn has long been my favorite season. Long before I had read The Great Gatsby or attended a high school football game, I was captivated by piles of falling leaves in brilliant shades of red and yellow, by the buckeyes we collected in the nearby cemetery, by the crisp aroma of coal fires, the damp mustiness of the earth, the chill in the morning and evening air. Later, Fall meant the exciting trepidation of a new school year: new opportunities to succeed and fail; to learn, both in and out of class; to make friends (and perhaps an enemy or two).


This year is no different. With the Mission Study completed and awaiting approval by the Committee on Church Development, Autumn will see the next major step in your process of transition: the election of a Pastor Nominating Committee. These folks will undertake some difficult tasks:  interpreting Smyrna Church for prospective pastors; evaluating those candidates in light of your strengths and weaknesses, your gifts and your call; and discerning which woman or man is called to be your next pastor. This is an exciting job, but also a bit scary; it will require diligence, devotion and a trust that God's Spirit will strengthen, guide, and encourage each member of the PNC, and the committee as a whole.

Of course, with the election of a PNC, I begin to see the end of my time at Smyrna approaching.  Soon we will begin the housekeeping required to make the best impression on prospective candidates, and I will begin to consider what come next for me. This too is exciting, and a bit scary; I suspect it will require every bit of my diligence, devotion and trust in the Holy Spirit to strengthen me and guide me to the next place I can be of service.


I find it interesting in the end how Fitzgerald turned convention on its head by seeing rebirth, new life not in the Spring, where one expects it, but in the Fall. In Gatsby, Jordan Baker argues against the disappointing sameness of life as exemplified in a tense, sultry summer day, contrasting it with the refreshing movement of the days and seasons - each one providing an opportunity for something new and different, if only in a small way. I pray this autumn will be refreshing for us all, and that the new shoots of life we sow might continue to grow and deepen over the coming days and seasons.

Photo by rcmori, www.panoramio.com