September 19, 2010 – Nehemiah 12 

This is quite an appropriate reading for today.  We just got done celebrating the rededication of our renewed church.  The Bishop came, there was great music, Holy oil was used to anoint the altar, the walls.  Everyone was so excited to be a part of the finished product.  And this was kind of the culmination of 5 years of work.  It was nice to celebrate it. 

It makes me think of closure.  We often hear about that when it comes to the end of a relationship or the death of a loved one.  We hear people talk about needing closure in order to move on the the next step.  I think you may need it for something like this as well.  It is not a sad day in any way shape of form, but it is something that was a process that has been completed.  For 5 years some have lost a lot of sleep trying to get this together, now it is finished.  Hopefully our celebration today will help them with their closure so that the parish can move on to the next challenge.

I would imagine it would be easy for those who spent so much time and effort to want to go back and evaluate.  Like with anything that we devote time to, when it is over there is an emptiness.  Let us pray for the leaders of our church who have brought about something beautiful, that they take the time to step back, enjoy the accomplishment they helped to achieve, and then close that book and get ready for the next challenge.  With a church so holy and beautiful, it is only a matter of time, and may already be, that the Devil will attack.  We must have our faces forward and alert, not looking back at what has already been accomplished.