mgpcpastor's blog

In the last couple of weeks I’ve gotten a new computer, which involves the migration of data from my old computer to this orange Sony Vaio.
In doing so I’ve looked over my contact list and again find myself confronted by what should, in itself, be a simple matter: Deleting the details of people who have died.
I don’t know why I find it so hard to do.
They’re not at that address anymore, they won’t answer the phone, and, in most cases, I believe that they’re much happier now than they were in their final days here.
Yet when I’m scanning my contacts I see their names, and, without meaning to, memories return.
Once deleted these incidental prompts to remember old friends would be gone.
Today marks fourteen years of pastoral ministry for me.
Just short of six years in Mordialloc and just over eight years here in Mount Gambier.
Of all the aspects of pastoral life that I was unprepared for it has been the departures from this life and the legacies which have remained that has been most significant.
What an unanticipated blessing that in the midst of the privilege of serving so many that they have so richly served and blessed me with memories, words and examples that abide with me daily.
I remember one who, on her last evening, told me that she placed herself in God’s hands.
Visiting another in a palliative care hospice (with Chris P, I think), and after praying for her she simply said “And now I’ll pray for you” which she promptly did.
Many more in recent days as well.
My personality is basically introverted, relationships are a conscious discipline to me, without this calling I’d never be involved in as many lives as I am.
It is impossible to explain the feeling that your presence is expected as a responsibility, yet appreciated like a precious gift.
I walk on sacred ground and thank God and His people for the opportunity to live such a blessed life.
So, the difficulty with deleting these contact details doesn’t flow from not wanting to acknowledge their absence, it’s just that I’m so thankful for every memory of those absent, those still present, and those yet to come.