The Way things Used to Be - May 6

Today’s Readings: AM Psalm [70], 71; PM Psalm 74; Wisdom 14:27-15:3; Rom. 14:1-12; Luke 8:26-39

When I worked in the Diocese of West Tennessee, my last position was on the diocesan staff, and I would lead retreats with congregations helping them to imagine new ways of doing ministry in their communities and to help them identify their strengths and be emboldened to live into their mission.  I would have gatherings for the whole diocese and then teams from churches would sign up for a six-month long process of learning, sharing, and visioning together.  As one of the two Canons of the diocese, I was available and willing to work with all of our congregations.

It might not surprise you that many of the larger churches felt they were just fine and many of the smaller congregations were eager to jump aboard.  For the churches that would sign up, I would lead retreats often on site of their congregation and then we would meet monthly to begin to put an action plan in place for a new missional ministry.

One of the barriers to the work was often the feelings of loss and nostalgia the were so dominant in the smaller congregations.  As we would create a congregational timeline, inevitably the congregation would always end up talking about the ‘good ole days’ when children’s Sunday school classes were thriving, and the church was full of people.  And then something would happen, a neighborhood would begin to change, a factory would close, or some sort of conflict would take place, and from that point on, people would always wish the church was like it was before. 

Yet, with some truth telling about this reality, time, and a lot of listening and creative dreaming, we could usually come up with more than enough new and life giving, faith-affirming ministries to begin, several of those that still are thriving today.  Our ministries were not about increasing attendance and returning to the past but seeking and serving Christ in the community.  The group just needed to learn or (re)remember that God was still up to something new in their midst. 

I wonder though if many of the people I worked with would have identified with Psalm 74 which begins with the psalmist lamenting that God has cast off their community.  “Remember your congregation that you purchased long ago…the enemy has laid waste everything in your sanctuary.”  Their lives and their faith community was not the same as it used to be and the psalmist is angry. 

But the psalmist also continues to be faithful and to pray.  “Yours is the day, yours also the night, you established the moon and the sun.  You fixed all the boundaries of the earth; you made both summer and winter.”  The psalmist still believes in the creative and life-giving power of the one we know as God Almighty. 

It’s easy to want things to be the way they once were.  Many of us find great comfort in holding onto the ways of the past and the glory of God that we have felt in moments in our lives and the way we have believed the world should be.  I just wonder, if God is Almighty, could God still be doing something new and wonderful in our midst.   And what could that be?

John+

Questions for Daily Reflection:  What do you miss most about the church of your childhood?  Are there things that were better, easier, or more satisfying back then? 

Daily Challenge:  Create a top three list (I figured three was easier than 10) for the three things that God is up to in your life and that you give thanks for.  Share that with someone today.