PREPARING FOR THE FUTURE
The show, "Neat," on the ION network has inspired me to get back to a regular practice of going through my stuff and organizing it by the "keep, give away, toss or recycle" method. I'd like to blame it on the fact that my parents both lived through the depression and instilled me with a "hang on to it because you never know ..." philosophy about my possessions. And if it's something that was given to me, I'll hang on to it forever!
As I look through my closets (yes, that's plural) and the room upstairs which has become the unorganized dumping ground for whatever and empty cardboard boxes (because who knows when you need to return the item it came in), I realize I really need to enforce the "three-year" rule. It's not like this stuff didn't have value and usefulness at one time. The question I have to ask myself, is "does this carry my life into the future?"
If I am willing to respectfully let go of this stuff (i.e. give away what is still usable; recycle what can be repurposed), it makes more room. Not just physical space, but more room for possibilities, dreams and joy.
I think we need to do the same thing as people of God in our own faith communities. Let's face, it, many of our buildings where we gather as the church are storage and space challenged. We need to look at the stuff we accumulate, honor it's value and worth for it's time and place in the history of the church and ask ourselves, "How does this carry the faith into the future?" Some items we'll decide to display (not shoved in a cupboard or closet somewhere) as part of our history. Some items will need to be retired and disposed of if they cannot be repaired or are outdated technology. Other things, such as old Sunday School curriculum can be recycled and repurposed.
But, you know, it goes beyond just the physical. The past is very useful. We learn form it, we rediscover our purpose and mission from it, and find the essentials of our faith in it. However, there are practices and traditions, that at one worked and benefited the movement of the church into the future, that just don't do that anymore. They too need to be honored for the value they had and then retired. The big question for discernment in these matters is, "does this carry the faith into the future?"
Everyone in the church, including pastors, can fall prey to the "we've always done it this way," attitude about how we do worship, faith development and outreach. It takes a lot of courage and spiritual maturity to say, "I'm not used to doing it this way, I'm not comfortable with this, but if it carries the faith out and into the future, I'll do it. I can change -- if I have to."
And with God's help, I can change, you can change, we all can change. When we're willing to let go and get out of our all too safe comfort zones, we make room for God and God-possibilities.
Isaiah 43:19 says, "Be alert, be present. I'm about to do something brand-new. It's bursting out! Don't you see it? I believe that it's not so much a something new but that our creator and creative God is doing the same thing in a different way. God's mission for salvation and redemption of all creation and the gospel of Jesus Christ doesn't change. A lesson we can learn from the church is that the language it's expressed in, the context and the culture in which it's preached, and the music with which it is praised does change.
Our challenge as the Body of Christ, whether we're clergy or lay people, is stopping and seeking God through prayer and fasting if we're serious about the direction the church is headed in. We've always done things a certain way, but is it the way God wants us to do it now, in our context in our time? Let's not just jump from one quick fix to another. Let's invest our time in discernment and trust in God instead of ourselves. Seek, pray and listen, listen, listen to God through scripture and God through others. Then honor, retire, recycle and move into God's future for us.
What do you prayerfully belive will take the church into the future?
As I look through my closets (yes, that's plural) and the room upstairs which has become the unorganized dumping ground for whatever and empty cardboard boxes (because who knows when you need to return the item it came in), I realize I really need to enforce the "three-year" rule. It's not like this stuff didn't have value and usefulness at one time. The question I have to ask myself, is "does this carry my life into the future?"
If I am willing to respectfully let go of this stuff (i.e. give away what is still usable; recycle what can be repurposed), it makes more room. Not just physical space, but more room for possibilities, dreams and joy.
I think we need to do the same thing as people of God in our own faith communities. Let's face, it, many of our buildings where we gather as the church are storage and space challenged. We need to look at the stuff we accumulate, honor it's value and worth for it's time and place in the history of the church and ask ourselves, "How does this carry the faith into the future?" Some items we'll decide to display (not shoved in a cupboard or closet somewhere) as part of our history. Some items will need to be retired and disposed of if they cannot be repaired or are outdated technology. Other things, such as old Sunday School curriculum can be recycled and repurposed.
But, you know, it goes beyond just the physical. The past is very useful. We learn form it, we rediscover our purpose and mission from it, and find the essentials of our faith in it. However, there are practices and traditions, that at one worked and benefited the movement of the church into the future, that just don't do that anymore. They too need to be honored for the value they had and then retired. The big question for discernment in these matters is, "does this carry the faith into the future?"
Everyone in the church, including pastors, can fall prey to the "we've always done it this way," attitude about how we do worship, faith development and outreach. It takes a lot of courage and spiritual maturity to say, "I'm not used to doing it this way, I'm not comfortable with this, but if it carries the faith out and into the future, I'll do it. I can change -- if I have to."
And with God's help, I can change, you can change, we all can change. When we're willing to let go and get out of our all too safe comfort zones, we make room for God and God-possibilities.
Isaiah 43:19 says, "Be alert, be present. I'm about to do something brand-new. It's bursting out! Don't you see it? I believe that it's not so much a something new but that our creator and creative God is doing the same thing in a different way. God's mission for salvation and redemption of all creation and the gospel of Jesus Christ doesn't change. A lesson we can learn from the church is that the language it's expressed in, the context and the culture in which it's preached, and the music with which it is praised does change.
Our challenge as the Body of Christ, whether we're clergy or lay people, is stopping and seeking God through prayer and fasting if we're serious about the direction the church is headed in. We've always done things a certain way, but is it the way God wants us to do it now, in our context in our time? Let's not just jump from one quick fix to another. Let's invest our time in discernment and trust in God instead of ourselves. Seek, pray and listen, listen, listen to God through scripture and God through others. Then honor, retire, recycle and move into God's future for us.
What do you prayerfully belive will take the church into the future?
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