Saying goodbye and thank you to 12 departed colleagues
The PC(USA) national staff holds a Chapel service to remember and pray for those whose positions were eliminated
LOUISVILLE — Nearly 90 national staff members of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) gathered online Wednesday for a Chapel service to honor the 12 colleagues whose positions were eliminated last week amid ministry reconfiguration announced by Executive Director and Stated Clerk of the General Assembly, the Rev. Jihyun Oh.
Those 12 employees, whose names have not been publicly announced, are seeing their benefits continue.
“The loss of so much energy, intelligence, imagination and love!” one person in worship commented online.
One was “deeply saddened at the loss of all these colleagues and the work they have held so faithfully.”
Another gave thanks to God for their service, “and prayers for discernment in a new season.”
“You each and others are on my heart that rejoices in knowing several of you,” said a fourth, “and in knowing that you have served with heart and courage. I’m just so sorry you’re facing this. May you find joy and meaningful work ahead.”
Oh welcomed those gathered online for worship, whether they were ending their service to the PC(USA), changing their role, those who are “not sure what comes next,” those who are “continuing in what you’re doing but aware that others are not,” those who are “carrying the weight of having made hard decisions,” those who are “struggling with how to lead when you don’t know where you’re going,” and those who are “discerning for yourself but also for the Church, for the agency, where God is calling us to go.”
“However you come, you are welcome to this service,” Oh said. “I am glad we can be together to give thanks to God for the service of so many and also the ways in which God continues to call us and accompany us as we go through our lives and vocation. So welcome.”
The service consisted of thoughtful liturgy but included no sermon. Worshipers confessed their sin and received an assurance of pardon. During a litany of recognition, they were asked, “Whose work is ever done? Who can say, ‘My desk is clear; all the projects are finished?’ Who can retire and say, ‘It is finished. My heart is on to other things.’”
“God’s passion in us for the work we do is not a faucet we can turn on and off,” the litany asserted. “These unanswered emails and midcourse projects, we entrust to God. … We anticipate what the Spirit has in store for God’s Church. May God help us.”
Those in worship were asked to spend a few minutes on an experiential reflection and prayer with Deut. 6:4-9 as their scriptural basis. They considered what they’re grateful for: “What has formed the church to seek justice, love mercy, and walk humbly toward God’s call? What has been let go by necessity of the growth it inspired?”
Then, with Ephesians 4:7 in mind, worshipers were asked to consider “how grace may be calling to you in this moment. How may you need to give yourself grace? How may you need to ask for grace from others? Who or what may you need to extend grace towards? How can you find grace for the church and the world?”
The closing prayer included these words: “May the God of endurance and strength be with you. In this season of hard decisions, may you know that you are not alone. For every weight of responsibility you bear, may the Spirit of peace lighten your load.”
“When sorrow lingers, may you know God’s abiding care, and may you trust in the path ahead, even as it is being revealed.”
A Corporation President Kathy Lueckert offered a charge, blessing and sending.
“Blessed are you who bear the light in unbearable times
who testify to its endurance amid the unendurable,
who bear witness to its persistence when everything seems in shadow and grief.
Blessed are you in whom the light lives, in whom the brightness blazes,
your heart is a chapel,
an altar where in the deepest night
can be seen the fire that shines forth in you
in unaccountable faith
in stubborn hope
in love that illuminates every broken thing it finds.”
“And now receive this charge,” Lueckert said. “Live without fear. Your Creator has made you holy, has always protected you and loves you. Go in peace and follow the good road. May God’s blessing be with you always. Amen.”
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