Leaving Well

Today is the three year anniversary of my first day on staff at California Heights United Methodist Church.

I held that position for 364 days. That year (rounding up) was full of lessons, heartbreaks, and joys like I had never truly known before. Yet it is just my last couple of days there, that I want to mention here.

Before I left, a friend who knew about some of the heartbreak of that year, encouraged me to leave some small item on my desk at the church. He encouraged me to "imagine that item as all of the frustration and pain from this year. As you drive away from it, imagine yourself driving away from all of that to your new start in Florida." I was encouraged to think of the distance between myself and the totem as the distance between myself and those wounds.

I left a pencil adorned with a pink puff on top on my desk. And drove to Florida.

Two years later (again rounding up) I would be driving away from another church, another family, and another desk. This time however, while there certainly was frustration and pain in that time, there was also joy and growth. I wanted to leave a token behind. This time as a symbol of the good will I found there.


This plastic top appeared one day in one of the Worship Bags we hand out to our kids to give them something to focus on during the service.

However, it didn't come from us. It was left behind. It found its way into my office. I would spin it or just fiddle with it while I was on the phone, or needing a kinetic outlet when I was problem solving. It also saw use when our office email decided to run particularly slowly.

As I waited for the owner to claim it. It quickly became "my top." One of the many items on my desk that were all a part of my time at First UMC in Florida.

As my time in Florida drew to a close, I reflected on my time in California. It was a comfort to see the marked difference between the two experiences. Not just in the day to day of ministry, but in the person I was entering the Sunshine State, and who I was as I prepared to leave.
So, I thought up this little ritual.

One item left behind as a reminder of the new beginning I was about to embark on. Another item left behind as a reminder of the joy brought to me by that place.

--Serving God alongside all of you, just from further away
--Jesse Letourneau

And Then...

So, 2020 has been a year.

Worldwide pandemic.
The impact of that upon the US.
The shifting ground of that impact that shifted the ground exposing truths to others who hadn't seen/hadn't cared.
The politicization and sniping that we took from these lessons.

Due to the last part of that recap, I don't think I want to rehash the larger issues here on this site.
But if you have my contact info. Would love to have those conversations with you.


2020 has been quite the year for me personally as well.

Learned on Super Bowl Sunday, that May 31, would be my last day at FUMC.
Began online interviews via ZOOM as I searched for a new home for ministry. (Before ZOOM was the cool new thing)
Found a really cool daily rhythm reading to the children of FUMC online. (I suspect there were as many adults as there were kids that enjoyed them.)
Became sick of ZOOM as it was the only way to have interviews for new positions, staff meetings, etc.
Was literally fed by a family at First who "made too much" and "just had to share." Despite strong evidence to the contrary, I still believe it was a magical food fair that exchanged home cooked meals for offerings of tupperwear.
Learned that I might have gifts and talents that were being hidden under several different bushels.
Accepted a job in rural Indiana as solo pastor.
Waited two plus weeks for my furniture to arrive.
Served at a Funeral before my second Sunday as pastor.
And have been so blessed to reconnect with friends from Chicago and Houston via this thing called ZOOM.

And that is just the list. The fear, the anger, joy, sadness, hope, confidence, disbelief, ease, comfort, panic, discipline, sloth, waiting, expecting, receiving, leaving, and arriving could each fill a blog on their own.

But for now, the list will have to do.

--Serving God alongside all of you, just from further away
--Jesse Letourneau

Next time: Highly symbolic stolen plastic tops