HARMONY UNITED CHURCH Part 2

Breaking Up Is Hard To Do.

The glorious light colours its way through the beautiful stained glass windows and falls on empty pews.  No longer a sanctuary, it has become an echoing abandoned hall. The silence that was once holy, is now suffocating and oppressive.The altar, stripped of its furnishings, is now just a platform with no special significance.
All that remains are memories and ghosts. And a forgotten echo of choir voices in my mind.
The congregation that made this building their home has scattered, some to one or another of the churches in the area, a few no longer going to church at all. But all with an empty aching longing for what was once theirs. The choir voices that were ours are now part of new choirs, their voices mingling with other families.
How can anyone describe the impact, the feelings, the emotions, the sadness that is carried in the hearts and minds of these people who were once a part of the family that was Harmony United Church?
So much goodness has been shown by other churches in the area. Loving empathy, enthusiastic welcomes to their congregations, and open arms to enfold and embrace. This helps and soothes and is deeply appreciated, but does not cure the anguish.
We are not “home” - at least not yet.
The final Sunday service on January 9. So beautiful and moving. Tears and laughter and reminiscing and hugs – all with the knowledge that this was the last, the final ceremony, and nothing would ever be the same again.
Life goes on for us all. We move about our daily lives, and for the most part we can ignore the pang that signals a void in our existence, until a word or song or memory suddenly thrusts the reality back into sharp awareness.
We understand our duty though. It is to integrate into a new family. It is to recognize that now familiar ache for what it is – just nostalgia – an aversion to change – a desire to go back to a simpler time, and so we force it down below the surface and put on our happy faces, determined to show that we are strong.
It makes me wonder – how did a building and a group of people become so important to us that we grieve so badly?
It makes me wonder – will any of us allow another building and another group of people to take the place of what was lost?
It makes me wonder – with all the nice words about moving on – about new beginnings – about the Divine purpose for us – why does it just feel like The End?
And yet – deep within there is the faint beginning of a new hope, a new horizon, and a new optimism that we will heal, and that our experience will make us strong.

email to  deerthistle@sympatico.ca