Different yet the same

This morning Jeff and I served as ushers at church, as we do on a regular basis at the 9:15 service.  The view from the middle, standing in the back of church, is quite different from the middle front, facing the congregation, the place I used to stand all the time as rector or vicar, as priest in charge of smaller congregations.  From the back I see different things.   Even on this Sunday of the time change, with sleepy eyes, I saw different things.    The priest eyes do not go away just because I am not leading worship.  Now I still have priest eyes, priest heart, but use them from a different place in church.  Now it seems I am to use all I have experienced, all the accumulation of some 57 years (over half as a priest), only I am to stand in a different place, see different things, lead perhaps in a different way.  It is all right and good, and yes, different.  

Consider this:

It can be difficult to embrace different.  It is often hard to explain to others (or even to ourselves) when we have made a change (or something has changed us).  Where are you now?  Where have you been?  What changes, what transitions have impacted your life recently?  Say... in the last year?  Lent is often used as a time of personal assessment,  a time to reflect on where we have been, and what next steps God would have us take.  Sometimes we wake up to find ourselves standing in the back, handing out bulletins, bringing up the offering plates, tripping over teddy bears (like this Sunday).  It is good to reflect on the changes, recognize ourselves in their midst, and begin to figure out that next step.