Preparing to Leave
Robert Kemper
I've gradually learned how to leave properly, so that with the tension there is also a sense of joy.
—Robert Kemper The fable of the race between the tortoise and the hare reminds me of when I've accepted a new call. It's not so much the unexpected outcome of the race or the moral about tenacity or the warning about overconfidence that impresses me. It's just that when I accept a new pastorate, I feel like both a tortoise and a hare. As he moves, the tortoise carries with him everything he owns, with the consequent risk that entails. I am amused by The New Yorker magazine cartoon depicting a turtle with a hung-over look on his face. The caption says, "What a night. Hailstones!" Such are the complications of self-contained units. After deciding to move, there comes a moment in the moving process, whether I am loading a U-Haul trailer or professionals are filling up a huge Allied van, when I see all my worldly possessions strewn upon my front lawn. To me that's not only a dramatic symbol of what is taking place in my life, it reminds me how vulnerable I am at such moments—like the cartoon turtle in The New Yorker. Then again, after receiving a new call, I also feel like the hare. The hare, of course, represents speed. Likewise, after taking a new call, I instantly become future-oriented. My whole being moves toward what will be; the past and present become disproportionately smaller, and the future looms big and bright. I feel a great rush to get on with the future, or better, to get to the future. The present seems a barrier, an annoying distraction from what is really important to me. "Let's get going," says the rabbit in me. In spite of such tensions, my three pastoral moves have been glad and celebrative experiences. There's ...
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