I cried in church today. Not a blubbery, making a scene, look at me cry. The tear on my cheek and bum a kleenex from mom kind. And for the record, I wasn't the only one. There I sat, near the back, in Trinity Episcopal Church, Mackinac Island, watching and listening to my dad preside over his final service as an Episcopal priest ... ever. Fifty two years of doing precisely what he was placed on this earth to do, coming to an end before my teary vision, as if witnessed through antique glass.
Sharing the hardwood bench with my mom was as meaningful and emotional as seeing dad do his thing before us. You see, and he would be the first one to say this if I didn't , the fifty two year ministry has very much been a team effort. Indeed hers too has been a unique and important calling, if often unappreciated. In addition to all the love, attention, beauty and grace she shared with many flocks over the decades, there were the thankless challenges of being the clergy spouse too. The cowardly comments, stage-whispered just within her earshot, but meant for another. And bearing the burden of keeping more of it than we'll ever know to herself. Then knowing how best to share the rest to a man who just spent the night at the hospital with a family in crisis and probably isn't getting a day off this week.
Which brings this to mind - if you'd ever like to test my diplomacy and restraint, simply comment that clergy only work on Sunday. And maybe say it clear of my wingspan.
After a lovely service, having received holy communion for the last time from dad, we walked a couple blocks for a more physically filling meal where we talked and laughed, and didn't once talk about the end of anything. Mom and dad will continue to be a blessing to me, my family, and everyone they know and yet encounter. That's their truest calling, and the one with the greatest legacy. It's a calling we can all practice, and without need of vestments ... because that would be kind of weird and inconvenient at the beach or while biking.
Congratulations and well done dad and mom. And if you ever feel like just sleeping in on Sunday morning, God knows you've earned it. I'm pretty sure He'll give ya a wink and a pass. But not too often, you'd be missed at coffee hour.
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