“Trust God from the bottom of your heart; don’t try to figure out everything on your own.
Listen for God’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go; God’s the One who will
keep you on track. Don’t assume that you know it all.” Proverbs 3:5-6
Change gives me a stomach ache. Each time I’ve received a call from a District
Superintendent with the words, “The Bishop is appointing you to _ church” my
stomach hurts. I don’t want to move, change, start again. I’d rather stay where I am,
thank you very much. I know this territory, these people, the lay of this land. But
itinerancy, and life itself, was not designed for comfort. Change is part of God’s design.
I’ve found holy moments in those liminal spaces between leaving the old and
encountering the new. I imagine it’s what a trapeze artist experiences: letting go of one
swing and reaching for another, trusting the momentum, trusting the moment, and the
process. Up there in the air (those in-between places) it’s just God and me… and God
says things like, “It’s okay if you don’t know the future.” And “I’m holding you”. And “Let
go and let Me”. And “Aren’t you a little bit excited about what’s next?” And for a few
seconds I’m floating in the air, holding hands with God. Once on the ground I find that
God is already there… waiting to do a new thing… showing me moments where heaven
touches earth… giving me opportunities to grow and change… birthing me into new and
more abundant life.
This Sunday we’ll see some of the changes the Transformation project is planning. Our
old, unused and underused, buildings can have new life, and our congregation can
welcome a new and diverse community to our campus. It will not look the same, or be
the same. God is always in the business of doing a new thing.
What I know now about change, is that it promotes growth and life. I might still get a
stomach ache when I’m asked to change, but I don’t need to dread it, because God is
there. Every church I’ve served has been a blessing I wouldn’t want to have missed.
The Transformation Team was once called the “Dream Team”, tasked at looking what
could be done with the outdated and insufficient Adams Hall and Bonner Building. I’ve
discovered that though this process God has been dreaming with us, and that discovery
has led to holy moments of awe, gratitude, and hope. I hope you feel, in the midst of the
coming changes, some of those holy moments of awe, gratitude, and hope.
In faith, Marylee