{"id":10286,"date":"2015-05-07T00:32:46","date_gmt":"2015-05-07T07:32:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/?p=10286"},"modified":"2017-07-08T18:24:59","modified_gmt":"2017-07-09T01:24:59","slug":"how-do-we-say-goodbye","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/how-do-we-say-goodbye\/","title":{"rendered":"How Do We Say Goodbye?"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Leona Weltzer | Epworth LeSourd United Methodist Church Lay Leader<\/strong><\/h4>\n

At the end of someone\u2019s life we usually both grieve the loss and celebrate their journey. My church,\u00a0Epworth LeSourd United Methodist,\u00a0is in the process of doing just that as we end our congregational life. We have found much to grieve about but also remember that we have much to celebrate of\u00a0our life together.<\/p>\n

\"Epworth<\/a>
Epworth Methodist Episcopal Church, South 11th & Pine Street. Dedicated, July 21, 1889. Built by the efforts of Rev. George C. Wilding and the young people of First Methodist Episcopal Church.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We reluctantly acknowledged the change that is happening, but it is not easy even when we know that change is a never-ending process. We did not all vote in agreement of closure; certainly some stress there. Voting to close felt as if we were pulling the plug to end life support.<\/p>\n

How do we find closure in this life together?<\/strong> Emotions run high. We have experienced grief, regret, denial, and anger; each have gotten in the way of emotions like\u00a0anticipation and hope.<\/p>\n

Ending well is not as easy as it might sound. We have so many memories, had so many expectations, and had so many dreams that will not come to fruition here in this place. It has been an absolute roller coaster of feelings of grief, a sense of failure, loss of direction, and wavering hope which led us to question where God was in all of this. Some have been coming to Epworth LeSourd\u00a0for years. A few have recently found our place after years of searching.<\/p>\n

\"Epworth<\/a>
Epworth Methodist Episcopal Church, South 7th & Anderson Street. Dedicated, December 14, 1902. Rev. David G. LeSourd, Pastor.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I felt at first as if God had forgotten us.<\/strong> Were we the unfruitful branches that needed to be pruned? Could I even continue to be open to hearing God\u2019s word each Sunday knowing that worship in this place was ending? I experienced feelings of both hope and despair. Hope and reality clashed. It has been pretty traumatic at times. For me there seemed to be this invisible, flashing, neon sign that said, \u201cClosing! Closing! Closing!\u201d Rather distracting, as well as discouraging, when you are in church\u00a0to be one with the Holy Spirit and to feel God\u2019s presence and love.<\/p>\n

To make matters more confusing and frustrating, we had no clue of the process of closure. It was sort of the same as other churches that have closed, but not the same because we are not the same. We found no clear path. We have been hurt in the process of trying to figure it all out. We have accidentally stepped on each other\u2019s toes and feelings as we tried to work it out. We felt separated from the connectional church \u2013 we didn\u2019t know who to turn to. We had so many questions but few answers. We finally asked Brant Henshaw, the Conference Treasurer, to come and he talked to a group of us, patiently and graciously answering the questions we had at that point.<\/p>\n

We had to find the strength of faith to make not just this very difficult decision of closure but then all the decisions thereafter for all the steps we couldn\u2019t even begin to imagine that would be a part of the closure. We didn\u2019t know how to answer questions like:<\/p>\n

\"Stained<\/a>
Stained glass over front altar of Epworth LeSourd UMC sanctuary. Click for detail. Photo by Patrick Scriven.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

What will happen to\u2026?
\nWhat do we do with\u2026?
\nHow will we decide\u2026?
\nOr, who will decide\u2026.?<\/p>\n

What will happen to us? <\/strong>
\nWhat will happen to this beautiful building?<\/strong><\/p>\n

But since our vote to close we have come a long way thanks to a number of people who have stepped forward. As the time gets closer to closing the doors to this place called Epworth LeSourd United Methodist Church, we have been making room for new opportunities and ways for the building to be used to benefit the local community.<\/p>\n

We have taken a pretty good look around to assess what we can offer, and to whom we can offer as a legacy, so that the essence of what was will be given new life in a new place.<\/p>\n

There is more to give than we first thought. We have an abundance that can be shared.<\/strong> We will also soon be offering ourselves in new ministries in new places. We feel we have a lot offer.<\/p>\n

We are closing to allow this place of worship to become a new place for a new time and a new thing, in a much different world from when this place first started.<\/p>\n

Where will I go next? I am not sure. I feel like I have a number of options, and as hard as this has been I don\u2019t see myself leaving The United Methodist Church. Sadly, some in our congregation have chosen to leave the denomination. I am waiting for God to reveal my next step.<\/p>\n

Please pray for the people of Epworth LeSourd\u00a0as we\u00a0commit to ending well and going on to serve in new places.<\/strong><\/p>\n

We will have a Celebration of Life for Epworth LeSourd United Methodist Church on June 14, 2015\u00a0at 4pm<\/a>. I hope the church will be filled as it once was. I expect that there will be times for both laughing and crying in memory of all those who passed through the doors of this place and found God\u2019s presence and love.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Leona Weltzer | Epworth LeSourd United Methodist Church Lay Leader At the end of someone\u2019s life we usually both grieve the loss and celebrate their journey. My church,\u00a0Epworth LeSourd United Methodist,\u00a0is in the process of doing just that as we end our congregational life. We have found much to grieve about but also remember […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":10299,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[93,388],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-10286","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-devotional","8":"category-tacoma"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/DSC02245.jpg?fit=1300%2C819&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2l75j-2FU","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10286","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/51"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10286"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10286\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15670,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10286\/revisions\/15670"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10299"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10286"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10286"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10286"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}