Recently, I was talking to a pastor who is updating his Last Will and Testament and we were talking about professional books and what to do with them. Clergy have a particular affinity toward books, manuscripts, articles, etc. It is one of the hazards of the vocation. Nonetheless the books must be attended to as pastors update their Last Will and Testament.
We’ve been packing boxes and going through an accumulation of “stuff” that we’ve kept over the years. While going through our “stuff”, we came across old High School Year Books and College Yearbooks. We mused about good times and are still wondering what to do with them. I found my collection of stamps and my baseball cards from the seventies and we found some of the decorations from our wedding day and the homecoming clothes worn by our boys when we brought them home from the hospital so many years ago. These items gave us an opportunity to reflect upon our thirty years that we have shared together. Each re-discovered item brought back a special memory that remains in our collective memory. .
As I prepare to make another move, I have been cleaning out my files so that I will take only the material that I need to do the new ministry to which I have been called. As I go through files, I find bulletins, obituaries and materials I have used for every funeral I have done over the last ten years. As I clean out my files, I am remembering the faces and the memories of the people I have known and loved. I find lists and short biographies of the many members who have joined our congregation since I arrived. Their are faces of the Confirmation classes I have confirmed and the children I have baptized over the years. My task of cleaning out my files gives to me an opportunity to recall the many joys of my years of my ministry among the people of St. Paul’s.
Finally, however, such reminiscing must come to an end and decisions must be made as to what to save and what to throw away. Eventually, my minister’s Last Will and Testament must be filed with his lawyer and copies made for his children. The last box must be taped closed, the last book packed and the internal dialogue of how we lived and worked and played together will move to a different level as we ask ourselves, “how well did I love”.
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You know that love is more than a just a nice thought, or a beautiful piece of poetry or the lyrics of a love song. Love is the standard by which we measure our life and how well we have loved in the time we’ve been blessed to share as we pass through the chapters of our life. Love is about changing our motivation and our purpose for living .Love is about raising the bar of our social connections, eliminating our own meaningless prejudices, and changing the rules by which we engage in the process of making decisions and impacting lives. Love is foundational to the Christian faith.
“Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action” 1 John 3:18. This is our guiding principle in all that we do and say and show. At the end of the day,whether on New Year’s Eve, or some other significant event in our lives that causes us to ponder the meaning our humanity, we ask ourselves the only question that really matters to God, ‘how well have we loved?”
Prayer
At the end of the day, O God, may I say with confidence that I have loved well. God, in your grace forgive me when I do not love, convict me and show me a better way. In the name of the one who loved in truth and action, please hear my prayer. Amen.
