Showing up

One often hears that one of the best things you can do sometimes is just show up. I think I had that proved last Sunday. I was supposed to be at First Congregational Church for the final Sunday of the Reverend Audrey Walker. I was supposed to represent her fellow clergy's support for her and read a farewell liturgy. She was not leaving of her own volition. The church had asked her to leave. She was obviously not happy about that, although I think she also recognized that it was an opportunity for her to find fuller fulfillment of her skills somewhere else. I had sent her several emails telling her that I would be coming and what time I would be arriving, none of which she received. Meanwhile she had called me on my cell phone several times and never received an answer and had left a voicemail message which I never heard or saw. I guess you could call it a comedy of errors. The day before I was supposed to be there, we finally made contact, and she had to regretfully tell me that she had decided I wasn't coming and had made arrangements to have my role filled by someone else. We both felt very badly about this, but I certainly respected her decision and we ended the call with the expectation that I would not be there the next day. But the more I thought about it, the more I felt that I should be there. There was no reason why I couldn't just go and be a part of the congregation and indicate to anybody who asked that I was there to be supportive of Audrey and also of the church. So I went. And it was so good that I did. Audrey was very appreciative that I was there and I had a chance to speak with people about why I was there and got a lot of appreciation for my being there from members of the congregation. And when it came time for the liturgy of farewell that I was supposed to do originally, Audrey invited me up and I just sat with the group as a sort of presence. I showed up. It was a lovely service, and I think my being there had a healing effect both for Audrey and the church. And I felt good too.

Audrey and me after church at the coffee hour.