“What we call a beginning is often the end and to make an end is to make a beginning. The end is where we start from.”

These words by poet T.S. Eliot capture the challenge and spiritual opportunity of an interim period in the life of a congregation.  One chapter, defined by a ministry, has ended, and another chapter, defined by yet another ministry, has yet to begin.   The “between” time can be much more than a waiting period, however:  it can be a time when a congregation understands deeply and fully that its life force resides not in any one leader, but, rather, in its purpose.

After ministry in congregations large and small, old and young, confident and tentative, I appreciate the importance in an interim period of practical steps.   A congregation may need to understand the reasons it has been stuck, for instance, and make plans to move forward;  a community make take advantage of the time to shore up strengths and address weaknesses.  In some cases, an interim period also necessitates that deeper, more emotional work be done, such as the healing of injury or the grieving of loss.  Town meetings, retreats, Circles of Trust and Listening Circles, congregational autobiography, strategic workshops. . . many tools enable a congregation to move forward.

As necessary as it is to take stock and plan, the most important function during an interim period is the same as at other times: to touch and transform people’s lives as a spiritual and religious community.   Perhaps more than ever, Sunday morning services, which serve as the heart and soul of a community’s life, are important during this “between time. ”  In this hour, the community re-experiences its reason for being and thus remains relevant to people’s lives.   Put more theologically, a community needs to nurture human compassion and openness to spirit. An interim minister is called to engage in many pursuits — assess dilemmas, render pastoral care, build trust, begin renewals — but most of all, it is that person’s task to tack toward the meaningful.

During all of this work, as an Accredited Interim Minister, I strive to maintain a unique balance between serving the people of a congregation with an open and full heart and realizing that I am there for the short term.  My task is to do everything I can to make it possible for both congregation and new minister to enter into a healthy and hopeful relationship. In the process, I hope, if all goes well, to help the congregation remember the very reasons for its founding.  As Eliot says, “We shall not cease from exploration/and the end of all our exploring/will be to arrive where we started/and know the place for the first time.”

The Rev. M. Susan Milnor