Last year my in-laws moved to Oregon from Illinois in the midst of some substantial health issues. This past week our little family of three flew back to Chicago to clean out their business, a music studio in one of the western suburbs, so that we could sell the building.
We walked in to rooms that looked like someone had just walked out. Piano music at the ready, desk calendars open. The story of life interrupted with the unexpected. We went through boxes of household items, dropped off at the studio during the chaos of selling their house. We transported the belongings of Jeff’s brother who lives in China to a storage facility. We did all this work to close a chapter in the life of the Lowerys. Once the building sells we will no longer be tied to Illinois in the same way. It will be the place of family history rather than our present.
My husband Jeff and I met in seminary in Illinois. We spent Christmases there, and parts of most every summer of our marriage. We have our habits and routines. Oberweiss milkshakes, trips into the city, and visits with friends. And all of that is ending. Oh we might make it back on occasion, but there are so many other places to visit, so much family all over the world to connect with. It is the end of an era.
And there is grief there. Loss of what we knew, loss of the usual way, loss of the almost unthinking pieces of who we are and what we do. I think this is why people are so sad when churches close. It too is the end of an era. It means what was is no longer and our identities are wrapped up in that thing that was. Illinois will always be home to Jeff, even though it is no longer any of the family’s home. The moving and ending doesn’t change this truth. Same is true when churches close. That place will always be a spiritual home. The thing is that life is full of endings and beginnings. My in-laws living in Oregon means all sorts of other things, like getting to see them more frequently and being able to support them as their health continues to decline. A church closing often leads to new life somewhere else if we are paying attention.
May you in times of endings see beginnings, may you know that home is always home, and may we all give ourselves the time to grieve and to open our hearts to what is new.
-Eilidh
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