this path

doorway in Santa Fe, New Mexico   by Yolanda Kauffman

This Path

From circumference to center

from center to circumference

we walk this path together

pilgrims all.

Traveling level ground—

none rise above

none fall below—

we make room for meeting.

Presence greeting Presence

Moving alone together

we greet and part, turn,

then circle round

and meet anew.

Pilgrims all

we walk this path together

from center to circumference

from circumference to center.

- Eric Massanari

Composed during a group labyrinth prayer walk at the 2013 Shalom catechism retreat.

I shared this poem with the Shalom Mennonite Church congregation this past Sunday, my final Sunday serving with them as a pastor. It was a Sunday filled with joy, grief, celebration, and gratitude for the vital, transforming way God's Spirit has led us through the years. My heart remains full and overflowing as I've now entered some needed time of solitude and retreat.

In the nearly fourteen years of serving this beautiful congregation I experienced such love, grace, mercy and compassion. It is a body of Christ that truly seeks to live the fullness of its name, Shalom. It is an ancient name, both for God and for a depth of encounter that we as human beings might find together in God, and it is not easily defined (as is the case with all sacred names). The Shalom Church sometimes sings a song that articulates at least part of the meaning:

Harmony, unity, wholeness and justice,
Peace and salvation,
All are Shalom!
(to the tune of Dona Nobis Pacem)

We now cross another threshold together. This time it bears the quality of an ending, a letting go, a death. Distance now enters the bonds of the relationships that have been formed. However, I know and trust that the bonds forged by God's own love, the bonds that make us one as Sisters and Brothers in Christ, remain and will remain forever.

The words of Luke's gospel that grounded the fullness of our worship and fellowship on Sunday included this message:

So, I say to you, 
Ask, and it will be given you;
search and you will find;
knock and the door will be opened for you.
For everyone who asks, receives,
and everyone who seeks, finds,
and for everyone who knocks,
the door will be opened.
Luke 7:9-10