Dear Nest-Emptiers:

During our prayer time in worship yesterday we were asked to pray for students who were heading off to college, especially the freshmen, many of whom were leaving home for the first time. The prayer request was followed by an ancillary request for us to remember empty-nesters negotiating suddenly quieted households. These requests triggered my own memories of my first days in college, my parents walking out of my new dorm room, my mom crying, my dad wishing me well. My looking down at the parking lot from my ninth-floor window and seeing their car pull away. At the time my seventeen-year-old self could not comprehend the complexity of their emotions, but in hindsight it wasn’t all about me. I was the youngest of five, the caboose, the last nestling flying from home. For me it was the beginning of a new chapter; for them it was the conclusion of a book in a multi-volume series.

Flashing on these memories yesterday in preparation for prayer, it occurred to me how appropriate it was to speak of them in the Sanctuary.