I miss the old days
Those days, 45 years ago when I left
the moldy halls of Princeton Theological Seminary
and inflicted myself on an unsuspecting congregation
Perhaps my memory is clouded
And I am glorifying the past
But it seemed as if things were different then.
People saw “the ministry” differently then
The church had a different place in the life of the
community
The pews were fuller
The faces were younger
Christmas Eve was a “big deal”
And Easter too
People were, perhaps more confident, and perhaps more
unified
in terms of what they believed
it was the best of times
it was the worst of times
for underneath the surface
there was pain
a lot of pain
women were minimized
LGBTQI+ people were defined as outcasts and sinners
(unless they denied who they were, or denied themselves a
love relationship)
racism was ignored
and our way of thinking about God?
God was for most people
A rather cranky, older, white, man
Who was, truth be told, pretty retributive
And had to be placated as best as possible
So we went to church
Put together our Sunday school programs
And had our crazed and hyperactive youth programs
And tried not to think too seriously about the looming,
niggling problems
Lurking under the surface of it all!
As long as “it worked”
And people showed up
Now here we are
The pews are relatively empty (no problem with social
distancing)
The young families are staying away in droves
Young people look at the church and wonder WTH?
As they watch those who claim to follow Jesus embrace
values and priorities Jesus would hate
Now people ask questions
Like “How can you say God is love and say God will torment
most of humanity for all eternity?”
Or “If we know people are born LGBTQI+, how can you claim
that makes them a sinner?”
Or “If God loves all and welcomes all, why don’t you?”
Now we struggle to define, and redefine what we believe
We struggle with racism, and restitution
We struggle with gender issues
And we struggle with social issues
And we find ourselves caught up in the middle of
radically radical political divisions
And we find ourselves watching as the darkness of authoritarianism
grows
And truth is abandoned for lies
It is downright apocalyptic!
And it is great!
Because we are always called by this God we Love
And who is love
Into newness
And newness means letting go of what is old (yes, I know,
blasphemous)
And moving on!
We have let go of a lot over the last 45 years
We have more to let go of
We need to let go of some of what we believe about God
And a lot of what we believe about each other
We have to let go of our old ideas about what success
looks like
And what ministry looks like
And what the church looks like
But this I believe
God is always doing a new thing
And God is always asking us to go with them into a new,
scary, unknown place
this is the story of God and God’s people
Abraham was called to leave and go
Moses, and the people
The disciples
Paul
You
Me
Let go and follow
People have not always let go easily, or well
Oh no!
Abram/Abraham doubted and took things into his own hands
The people of Israel wanted to go back to Egypt
The disciples ended up where they started, fishing
Paul created a lot of chaos before he finally got it
And we?
We too struggle to let go and move on
But if we can
If we can let go of what is old and grab hold of what is
new
Even if it is scary
Even if it is difficult
Perhaps painful
Even if it feels as if we are failing
And are lost
Wandering in the desert
If we let go
And follow?
There is something new
Something powerful
Something lifechanging
And perhaps world-changing out there
Which is why we pray
Thy kingdom come
Thy will be done
On earth
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