I am very late getting this posted! That doesn’t mean I’m not grateful and don’t have blessings to enumerate here. Oh, I do! That’s part of why I’m so late.I am grateful that the Divine Creator has been working on my heart. You see, I have a lot of friends and even some relatives who still belong to the church I left. And that can make things kind of awkward.
Among the ways that I served my former congregation was setting up the formatting for the weekly bulletins and then proofreading what the church secretary input each week. Every week what she forwarded to me was a mess … I spent a lot of time putting my original template back in order, not to mention correcting typos, spelling, punctuation, grammar and use of language errors. I did the same thing with a weekly publication outlining all of the church’s upcoming activities and events, as well as the prayer list.
I also created and maintained the church’s website. When I left, given that I was smart enough to maintain ownership of both the domain name and all content, I simply shut the site down.
Tonight I went out to a musical event with a couple of relatives, one of whom had attended worship this morning. They asked that I come meet them at their house so that we could drive together.
I walked into my relatives’ house tonight and there on the kitchen table was the bulletin from this morning’s worship, as well as several weeks’ worth of the announcement publication.
Interestingly, they ran a blurb about the fact that I am no longer participating in the production of those documents. They also noted that the website I created and maintained for some six years or so is “no longer operational.”
Did they thank me in print for my service or acknowledge the countless hours I spent on those projects in any way?
No.
I just shook my head and said “thank you” to the Divine Creator for once again showing me that my departure was absolutely the right thing for me at this time in my life.
They did note, however, that they are in the process of setting up a new website that will be operational on some unspecified date. Apparently, they have secured a new domain name which was printed in very large letters on the front of the bulletin.
It was spelled wrong.
I even said “thank you” again when one of my relatives was yammering away in the car about a couple of things said by the noxious pastor during worship this morning. I wanted to scream, “Why are you talking to me about this when you know I don’t go to that church any longer? I don’t want to discuss this, given that it has absolutely nothing to do with me!” Instead, I just bit my lip, did not respond to the comments and changed the subject as soon as possible.
“Thank you, Divine Creator, for taking me away from all that strife, tension, dysfunctionality and evil, thereby allowing me to focus my efforts on developing a closer relationship to you.
And in the future, when I am with my relatives, would you please make them be silent about their attendance at my former congregation? For that, I would be very grateful.”
{ 2 comments }
From what I have read you are indeed blessed to be away from it all.
Happy BYB Sunday
I’m glad you are not there anylonger.
And why did your relatives feel it necessary to show you those bulletins? It’s like rubbing it in your nose …kind of things. That was too bad!
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