My dear colleague and team-mate Kevin left the building yesterday. His farewell service and celebration were on Sunday but there were still a few meetings to attend and some visiting to do. Yesterday afternoon he came to my door to really say ‘Good-bye’. He has been here for 15 years and I have worked with him for the last 10. He was a great team-mate. People often observed how well we worked together. I would always say that we are similar enough in how we think and do things that we get along well and we are different enough in how we think and do things that we spark creativity in the other. Kevin has particular gifts that I, and the congregation, will miss very much.
Team ministry can be difficult and does not always run smoothly but over the ten years that we have been working together we have never had real conflict. Oh of course we occasionally disagreed on things but we could always talk and argue them through and come out the other side stronger for it. Kevin’s passions and interests ran in different directions than mine and that made life all the richer for the congregation as we brought different ideas and perspectives to things. We were also able to support and sometimes just prop one another up during the inevitable catastrophes of life that leave us weak and in pain.
I am not sure how things will feel as we move into this new phase of life here at BUC. I know for me it will mean a return to a full-time work schedule and a weekly preaching gig which I have not done for a while. I am looking forward to that (with, I think, the appropriate amount of trepidation). I do know that what will be absent is Kevin’s wisdom and calming influence, his insight into issues and his honest reflection on situations. He always brought a measured perspective but he was, at the same time, prepared to stir things up when necessary. He didn’t like conflict but he was also not a people-pleaser. I will miss all that and the fact that he always did the mid-morning coffee run to get us all a cup of coffee!
On Sunday he closed with a beautiful blessing and I asked him for a copy of it yesterday. I will be using it in the future and right now I offer it to you …
Life is short and we do not have much time to gladden the hearts of those who walk the way with us, so be quick to love and make haste to be kind and go with God’s blessing. You have gladdened many a heart here Kevin and now you go into this next phase of life with God’s blessing.
Well said, Nancy.