It Takes Courage

By Tom Ehrich

So here I am, in a place called Dado Tea on Church Street, in Cambridge, MA, sipping an Indian Chai, waiting for a meeting with a tech guru and then my 5:20pm Acela back to New York.

After a ritual walk through my seminary and past the little house on Sparks Street, where I lived for three years, I am back in Harvard Square, where everything seems new.

I like that. Newness is a sign of life. Change is in the air. Exciting.

At the closing clergy retreat service four hours ago, I talked about being in the so-called “sandwich generation,” worrying about failing parents and about children, end-of-life issues one minute, entering-adulthood issues the next.

I said we are a “sandwich faith,” too, dealing with all that we have inherited, trying to make it fresh and new, and dealing with the unknowable tomorrow to which God is leading us.

It takes courage to be a church leader in such a time. That was my takeaway from the clergy retreat: it takes courage, and they have it. I was grateful for my two days among them.