“For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under the heaven; a time to be born and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; …. a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to seek and a time to lose; a time to keep and a time to throw away….” (Ecclesiastes 3:1-2 ;5b -6)

This is a famous biblical passage, and I bet many people familiar with it don’t know it comes from the Old Testament. It is so true of my life. I’m getting ready to begin a new time; a new season of my life.

First, I was a musician then I went to seminary to become a pastor. I needed to remain in Atlanta and was unable to find a pastorate, so I worked at Barnie’s coffee and tea. This is where my love of good coffee sprouted. (Some say I’m a coffee snob which is probably true.)

After a few months, I was called as an associate pastor of a church in Atlanta. Several years later, I was in a car accident and sustained a traumatic brain injury. After many months of rehabilitation, I wasn’t ready to return to church, so I searched for volunteer positions. I tried two: first the Open Door Community – a Catholic Worker type community that worked with folks living homeless and those in prison. I found it too overstimulating for my injured brain, so I began volunteering in a hospice. That turned out to be the opposite of the ODC and didn’t ‘t work for me.

Thinking I was still going back to the ministry and not knowing what else to do, I walked into the chaplain’s office at a retirement center and offered my services. After talking to me for a while and giving me a tour the Director of Pastoral Services said I could volunteer there. I remained for several years where I began understanding my TBI made it impossible for me to go back to a church. I even won the “Special Services” award my last year. Michael got a job in Asheville, so we moved. In Asheville, I volunteered at two different places – winning “volunteer of the year” award at one until I settled on doing pastoral visits for my church – Grace Covenant Presbyterian.

I look back on my life and I understand the words of Ecclesiastes are true. There was a time for everything that happened. I don’t believe things happen for a reason but rather God takes what happens and makes something good come from it. I also don’t believe that God leads us along a certain path. God has helped me along the way and made good things sprout from difficult situations.

I have been attending Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church for twenty years. (As a Presbyterian minister, I am not a member of a church but rather a member of the Presbytery.) It has been a good place for me to be. Attending was “a time to keep.” I have good memories there and will always love that church. But there is “a time to throw away.” I don’t mean this in a literal sense for I will never throw away what I learned there but it is time for me to move on.

Worship has changed so much that it is unrecognizable. The chairs are set up in a circle with the worship leaders walking through the center as they speak. There are children’s tables spread throughout, and I find the children playing distracting. I imagine it is a good place for families and many new members have joined. I have been thinking about leaving for a long time, but something pushed me over the edge this Advent. I don’t know what it was, but I decided to leave and begin attending First Presbyterian which is downtown.

It’s funny because once I decided to go to FPC, I went to a worship service. When I stood up to leave, I saw an entire row of formerly GCPC folks. I’m not the only one who has difficulty with the changes.

I’ve been volunteering in their Saturday Sanctuary program since it began over a dozen years ago. They open their Fellowship Hall on Saturdays so people without homes and other poor people can come have a decent meal and get out of the cold. It’s not a good place for someone with a brain injury to volunteer but I really support its mission. I take breaks to “rest my brain” and it works. For this reason, I am familiar with this area of the church. I must become acclimated to the upstairs portion which will take time.

So far, the most difficult thing for me is parking. They don’t have much of a parking lot and parking downtown is problematic, especially for someone with no sense of direction. The worship services are very formal, which I like. I also am impressed with the many programs I see written about in the bulletin.

As sad as I am about leaving GCPC, I’m excited about this new path at First Presbyterian Church. “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under the heaven.” One season has ended, and another has begun.