CHANGE

I spend a lot of time thinking of the ways Church is supposed to change.  I read a lot of articles (here is the latest one) telling me the Church needs to change.  I attempt to read the signs of decreased participation, attendance and guests who worship with us, trying to understand how the Church needs to change.  I measure the temperature of the faithful to new ideas, new programs and new visions, as they honestly wrestle with why the Church needs to change. 

Here is what I have discerned, after a couple of years of living under the pressure of the need to change:

Change is overrated.

I personally love change.  I love new things, trying out new ways.  In fact, I often depend on the changes I spearhead in our fabulous congregation to make an impact on the Church.

I realize I am deluding myself.

Conversation with the Ancient One, who has seen it all, makes me realize how myopic my view is.  The change we are advocating in articles, board meetings and church seminars is so miniscule.  The “change” God wants is earth-shattering:  God wants all of creation to live life in partnership with him, in the midst of evil, suffering and death.  Nothing more. 

The Church is supposed to know that deep down in her bones. 

I am supposed to know that deep down in my bones.

I guess I am in the process of changing.

 

FOG

There are times in our lives where we feel foggy.  We are going through the motions.  We cannot reflect clearly, wonder fully or imagine vibrantly during these times; the fog in our life reduces our visibility. We are reduced to just working through our busy, hectic lives.  We try to find some energy as our quality of life decays.      God understands. There are moments when God clears the fog.  In these moments, all of a sudden, there is little difference between what we see and cannot see, what we experience as real and what we trust is true.  In these moments, we are connected to the Divine and the heavens and earth become one. God loves these moments. Disciples of Jesus are open to recognizing these moments when the fog evaporates as what they are—nothing less than God making His presence known to us.  We have this overwhelming sense of not being alone.   However, we Jesus-followers do not want to stop there.  We are called to do whatever we can to clear the fog so we can commune with our ever-present God in all circumstances, especially when we are busy, sick or afraid.  Jesus showed us how he lifted the fog.  He lived in community, he visited the synagogue regularly, he acted out of compassion for all people, and he took time when he could to speak to His Father. How do you make the fog in your life evaporate?  Whatever you do, do these things often, and eagerly.  It is your calling.

WORDS

WORDS

An average person reads about 250 words a minute.
In a world where text saturates and dominates, we are inundated with lots of words.

Yet, words are important to Christians, because “In the beginning, there was the Word.”
 
We need the Word to become flesh.
We need the words to make sense of our faith.
We need the words to proclaim good news.

All of this is to say, to be a disciple of Christ, you need words.

The Word disciples us using words.

What words will make your life more Christ-like?

We may have our favorites: forgiving, loving, caring, generous, kind, sacrificial, peacable.

Perhaps you prefer a more unusual set of words:
Awestruck.
Creative.
Bold.
Awake.
Flexible.
Risk.
Inspire.
Stubborn. (You can be stubbornly joyous, or stubbornly hopeful!)
Breathe.
Which words make your life more Christ-like? Which words make your life worth living?

Once you have a set of words, let those words disciple you for now. The hope is they will shape, shift, order and transform your life to be more Christ-like.

Then again, they just may be words.