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SAYING GOOD-BYE Pastoral Care to Those Whose Congregation is Closing The memories I shared with the congregation during the final service As your intern this year, my memories of Vang Lutheran Church are fairly recent. But they are memories I will carry with me forever. I was moved, from the first day I arrived in Fairdale and ventured out to find Vang Lutheran Church, by this church on the prairie. The gravestones that surround it seemed to speak to me. right from the beginning, of the witness of those who gave gone before. And somehow, my responsibility as intern Pastor seemed much more real as I realized that it was because of their faith and courage in establishing this congregation 95 years ago that I had the privilege of preaching the Word of God from its pulpit in this time. And it seemed to me last fall, and it still seems that way, that all the sermons - all the movement of the Spirit - that have been within these walls are still resounding. There are all those words of the Lord that have been spoken - all the baptismal water splashed, the hymns sung, the marriage vows exchanged, the faithful departed commended to God, the prayers offered, the wind and bread shared, the candles lit and extinguished. And there are also all those inaudible, unspoken sermons that have gone on in the hearts of the people - in the hearts of many of you here today - who have sought out this place as a place to get and to keep their bearings on life's journey. you carry those sermons - that peace of God with you - even when you no longer worship in this place. And I will carry the Peace of God given to me through Vang Lutheran Church as I continue on my journey. I will long recall the solace and comfort this place offered to me more than once last fall when waves of homesickness threatened to overwhelm. I would come here and sit on the steps and let God's Spirit surround and fill me. And I went back to town healed and strengthened. My thanks to you for sharing this place with me. And for allowing me to be with you as you bid it farewell. you truly are "God's own people" - and you carry God's light with you from this place to wherever it is God will lead you in the future. Sandy |
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