e·ra
ˈirə,ˈerə/
noun
a long and distinct period of history with a particular feature or characteristic.
"his death marked the end of an era"
synonyms: epoch, age, period, phase, time, span, eon;
Ends are never very fun, goodbyes are some of the hardest things to handle…even ones who’s effects are lessened by geographical distance.
This place is nowhere near me now, but today marks the last service in this little NC church. This church in which I have spent countless hours in worship, in service, in VBS, in weddings (one of which was my own), in choir practices, in choir recordings, in workdays (like the one where we got into paint mischief), and like that post on paint mischief, this church also became the topic of more than one blog post (although, occasionally the references were vague to avoid causing trouble—I know…me? trouble? Never! LOL).
No, I don’t attend there anymore, haven’t in years, for a variety of reasons…one of which is the reason today was the last service there. They moved to a new location closer to the communities where most of their regular attendees live, and that makes total sense. When you build relationships with people, it’s usually people in your community. And when you get to the point of inviting them to church, not only are you asking them to give up precious weekend time (let’s get real, we all love the weekend), but you’re also asking for an extra hour (or more) of their time just to drive. That makes it tough.
So I get it.
And I also get that not everything in that building’s history was sunshine and flowers. Lord knows, I get that. I weathered a few of the storms myself. But I also know that when I remember that place now, I remember the good times…the glory of God…the love…the imperfect people like me.
And I hope that these imperfect people like me will carry it on in their local community so that it will be the beginning of a new and even better era.
Imperfect: by that I mean, capable of making mistakes and human error, not intentionally choosing wrongdoing….that term without clarification makes me cringe…but that’s a topic for another day. LOL
