In the United Methodist Church, decisions to move a clergy person from one church to another are usually made during Lent. This habit has many practical advantages, and one glaring fault. It disrupts the key spiritual process of Christian life. Lent is the process of moving from ashes to fire. We do it in our personal lives, as we embrace the fact of our mortality on ash Wednesday, follow Jesus to the cross, experience grace on a gut level, carry his body to the tomb, have our hope renewed by miracle, then rediscover the ways we are each called to utilize the fire of Pentecost. Without the yearly repetition of this pilgrimage, all that we know about faith is gibberish. The local church, as a human organization, risks becoming a petty social club if it abbreviates this season. The Bishop and cabinet become ineffective whenever they focus more upon their own power to change things than upon the power that stirs the collective heart of Methodism in this period of the year.
I’m not advocating that we disband the practice of working on new clergy-church matches in the spring. We just need to be aware that our move from place to place isn’t the biggest show in town. Further, if you are planning to move to a new parish, redouble your prayer life and practice of the rituals related to Lent-Easter-Pentecost. Set aside personal time for fasting, journaling, a short retreat, labyrinth walking, etc.; with a focus on:
1. Where am I right now in terms of my relationship with God, my loved ones, and my own soul? Is burnout sapping the energy from my essential relationships? Am I still enthusiastic about my calling into ministry?
2. Is there affirmation of this move (or my desire to move) from those that I trust? How would I rate my relationship with the denominational authorities involved with this change? Is my faith leading me to be more isolated or more connected?
3. What am I, and those in my household, being asked to let go of? Are my hands, and the hearts of those with me, open to receiving something new and unexpected? How do we deal with our grief and our fears? Note that anxiety, grief, and fear, are three separate emotions and will involve differing paths for each person as they head towards acceptance.
Remember that Lent itself is a transitional process. Like many spiritual things, the journey is as important as the destination.