When Flowers and Ministries Die

As I walked into worship last Sunday I noticed that the two Sundays old flowers were fading.  I should have removed them, I thought, but, they still were serving their role of brightening up our worship space.  Yesterday I noticed that the now three week old flowers had died. Petals were falling. The stems were leaning.  Life was gone.  I tried to carry out both vases in one trip to maximize time on a fading Friday, but with no free hand  I could not catch all of the falling petals. I had to make my way back along my path to collect the pieces, one at a time. But I needed to clear the way.

Earlier in the week I sat with some friends as we talked about the end of a ministry.  There are lots of ways to talk about dying ministries.  Let’s give it more time; let’s give it a new vision; let’s wait for God to do something new.  I ended up being the voice who had to say, “It’s time is over. Let’s bring it to an end.”  That is a good way to become the least popular person in the room very quickly.  But, in the circumstances of that particular ministry, it looked to me like the ministry was not just wilting. The petals had fallen. Now we just needed to decide whether to throw out the flowers or let them stay in the vase, pretending that they were still beautiful flowers.

Sadly, my mind has been full of thoughts about dying ministries this summer.  Why, I ask, would God would allow ministries that seemed so full of life and energy at one time to now die.  My minister friends remind me that we need to be “pastoral” as we approach these “end of ministry” situations.  There is truth to that. But, how do we know when it is time to carry the flowers out of the sanctuary because their purpose has been fulfilled? Does God allow good ministries to die, like flowers, because their purpose in the church has been realized?

Tomorrow when I walk into worship there will be a new vase full of bright flowers. The flowers, like the baptismal waters, will be a sign of life springing from death.  I wonder if God allows some ministries to die because there is something new, something full of life, that God is bringing into existence to take its place?  It is painful and messy to clean up that which was beautiful and yet has now died. But perhaps the act of picking up the petals one by one is a way of grieving what has died and preparing the path for what is life.

When flowers and ministries die the best the church can do is to prepare the way for God’s resurrection story.