The story goes that the season finale of MASH was the most watched thing in history. It is was watched at the same time by more that 121 million people. So many people watched it that during one of the later commercial breaks, everyone in New York City went to the bathroom at the same time and caused a sewage crisis when everyone flushed at the same time.

I wasn’t around for the ending of MASH. But I do have a very hazy, but very potent, memory of the finale of Cheers, which was watched by a mere 93 million people. I would have been pretty young, but it was the kind of show that I had seen with my family, but I didn’t understand most of it. But because that was a time when everyone watched a lot of the same thing, the END of Cheers was a big deal, and it felt like a big deal. My parents had a plan to watch it, and I’m sure we were given special permission to watch. The episode was all about tying up storylines and finalizing characters. (Even though Frasier would somehow go onto another 12 seasons or something! And then a reboot last year!) And it ended in this very notable way, with an empty bar and lights being turned off. Closing time. The final episode.

Since this is my last week––my last service, my last newsletter reflection, my last of a lot of things––I’ve been thinking about closing time, and the idea of finality. Finality turns out to be kind of a fiction. It’s a way we experience time, not a fact of time itself. The irony of that final scene of Cheers is that even in the show it isn’t final at all. Cheers is closed for the night, and the characters had moved on, but in concept at least, the bar would open the next day. Outside of the Cheers universe, everyone on the show went on to new things, everyone watching woke up the next day. And of course, shows end and bars do close and get torn down. Lives are lived and end. But things go on. And on.

Finality is not something that anyone really experiences, because there really isn’t such a thing. Because out there all around are people who are flushing their toilets at the same time as one another in one great, swirling present. “Ends” are just occasions for being aware of our “now” because it is a moment when something is going to change for us. Finality is when a certain kind of “now” concludes, and a new kind of “now” begins.

What this leads me to is a deep appreciation for how important it is to be fully aware and cognizant of the present that I occupy. It makes me want to appreciate things more, and also find a sense of deep, resonating peace with the change that is always around us.

And most of all, it makes me want to treasure what happens when my “now” intersects with other peoples’ “now.” It makes me realize how precious it is to share time––any time at all––with people. What a miracle. What grace.

It has been a profound joy and an affirmation of what is deeply good in the universe to intersect my many “nows” with the congregation of UUCC for the past six-plus years. As we all continue basking in the great, shared present-tense in which we live, I hope you all know how much this time has shaped me and will continue to shape me.

And next time you flush your toilet––maybe I’ll be flushing mine at the same time!

Sometimes it is hard to tap into our spiritual selves or find time to nurture our creativity and intellectual curiosity. Here is a section that reflects on some nourishing materials from around the web and related media channels in order to get us thinking, get us feeling, and get us reflecting on the lives we are living in this big world. **Some Adult/Mature Themes May Appear in Links and Other Attached Material**

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Allan T. Georgia, MDiv, MTS, PhD

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