Seasons of transition bring feelings of excitement and anticipation but also anxiety and grief. Transitions require us to release the past even as we receive the future. They may make us feel unbalanced as we adjust to the new reality. This may cause discomfort, but during these seasons we can experience great development of our faith.
For some, transitions frighten us into holding tightly to current circumstances and seeking comfort in the familiar. For others, transitions expose a tendency to idolize the future and seek comfort in the next best thing. In the discomfort of transition, worship experiences offer opportunities to reaffirm our dependence on God alone as the source of our comfort. Worship allows us to remember and then release our past. It provides a setting for humbly surrendering to whatever God has in mind for us in the future. Below are several examples of how worship can offer guidance and comfort through seasons of transition.
Call to Worship: As we are called to worship, our attention and the emotions associated with transition turn toward God and God’s faithfulness. The reality and experience of God transcend our experience of change. Consider using Isaiah 55:8–11 or similar verses to reaffirm the comfort of God’s transcendence.
Songs: Remember God’s faithfulness by choosing songs that are dear to your congregation’s hearts. Consider songs that are connected to special moments in the past, such as anniversaries, baptisms, and other life events. Include songs with themes such as God’s unfailing love, God’s renewing revelation from generation to generation, or God’s providence. Remember to allow room for grief. Songs of lament are equally holy as songs of praise.
Confession: A time of confession allows us to recognize our dependence on things other than God for our comfort and to name and repent of our affection for these idols. John Calvin describes the mind as a “perpetual forge of idols” (Institutes, I.xi.8). Jeremiah 17:9 says, “The heart is deceitful above all things.” We might deceive ourselves by worshiping the past or the future, by finding comfort in the familiar or the new. In Job 38:1–2, God comforts Job through divine transcendence: “Then the Lord spoke to Job out of the storm. He said: ‘Who is this that obscures my plans with words without knowledge?’” This revelation leads Job to repentance: “Then Job answered the Lord: ‘I am unworthy—how can I reply to you? I put my hand over my mouth’” (Job 40:3–4).
Assurance: When we recognize and confess our dependence on false sources of comfort, God reassures us that God is enough. Consider using Matthew 6:25–34 or similar passages as a source of assurance.
Prayer: Using passages such as Psalm 143:5, allow prayer to be a time to remember in gratitude as well as lament. Include extended moments of guided silence, drawing to mind moments of blessing as well as people who are no longer with us. Use this time of prayer to surrender the future to God and to ask for God’s blessing on a new time of life while remaining open to whatever expression of love God has in mind.
Offering: In Matthew 10:8, Jesus commands the apostles, “Freely you have received; freely give.” During the giving of our gifts, we open our hands to release some of the blessings we have received from God. But an open hand, as it releases the past, is now in a posture of receiving. As we give, we also receive the blessings given out of God’s unfailing love.
The sermon: Consider preaching on themes such as Abram’s call to an unknown place (Genesis 12:1–9), the journey of the Israelites to the promised land as they follow the cloud (Exodus 40:34–38), the crossing of the Jordan River into the promised land (Joshua 3–4), or the dedication of the temple (1 Kings 8:22–52).
Testimonies of Remembrance: Provide time for sharing memories of God’s faithfulness in the past. Allow people to remember details, to stretch their memories beyond the most recent, and to include expressions of emotion attached with those memories.
Testimony of Anticipation: Provide time for sharing curiosity about the destination. Allow people to wonder what it will be like. Handle fear and anxiety with assurance of God’s faithful love. Encourage expressions of curiosity from the safety of God’s love.
Touch the Past and the Future: Memories and anticipations can often control our thoughts and emotions. We can find freedom from our internal musings by creating concrete symbols of the past and the future. Create a space for people to share their creations with one another. For example:
- Use a symbol of open hands to depict the release and receiving of this time of transition. Draw, carve, sculpt, or compose around this theme.
- Create a small treasure chest of mementos from the past and objects that might hold a place in your future destination.
- Create a montage of pictures that illustrate the place you are leaving.
- Use word clouds, poetry, stories, and sketches to imagine your destination.
Blessing: Consider using the familiar blessing of God from Numbers 6:24–26 to remember the past while looking forward to the future. Receiving God’s blessing during the worship service usually marks the end of worship. But receiving God’s blessing also celebrates a beginning. We recognize an end and anticipate a beginning, all within the safety of the blessing of God.
Doxology: Some of the psalms call us to give praise for what God has done for us. Psalm 150 praises God independent of the circumstances. Regardless of what we are leaving or where we are arriving, God is the only source of our comfort and stability. We praise God simply for who God is.