It’s noon on Saturday. Sherri and I are spending the weekend with her family; it’s her parent’s sixty-eighth wedding anniversary! I’ve spent the morning reading while the three sisters spent some time together before Mom and Dad arrive for tonight’s celebration dinner.
I’ve also spent some time in prayer and reflection. Once again, a word that has come to define our life and ministry together is foremost in my mind and spirit - changes.
It was twenty years ago that I awoke in the stillness of night to hear God speak that word to my heart. Changes. A few days later, I opened a newly purchased book and began reading. Halfway down the page, there was that word in italics - changes.
It was a time of great turmoil in the church I had served for almost ten years. I was called as pastor after a vote to merge with another dying church had failed. By God’s grace, this church began to experience new life. And with that new life came - you guessed it - changes.
New ministries and new leaders emerged - young families with children and youth led to a major building project. There were changes in worship as well. But somewhere along the way came the cry from the old guard, “We’re losing our church.”
The changes were too much for those who at one time were willing to do anything to survive. They began to cling ever more tightly to “the way things use to be.” And lost in all the power plays and desperate attempts to stop the change were the words of Jesus, “those who seek to save their lives (church) will lose them, but those who lose their lives (church) for my sake will find them.”
Less than a year later, I heard God once again. This time there was no specific word, just a deep impression on my spirit, and I knew it was time to leave. The departure from this church which at one time we thought we would never leave - in fact, Sherri had actually said at one point, “If God wants us to leave this church, He will have to hit me upside the head with a two by four.” He did. - set in motion a series of changes that as I said have come to define our lives and ministry to this day.
After a brief pastorate in a church in North Atlanta, God called us to Seoul, Korea. And it was there on what I like to call the edge of the world that our Lord brought about a major renovation in our hearts and lives. Changes.
We began to understand what Jesus meant when he said his followers must be willing to leave lands and homes, children, and family to follow him. And we experienced the joy of his promise that those who do will receive these things back many times over!
Our immediate family is closer than ever before. Our relationships, while challenged by distance, grew deeper: more real, more transparent, more loving. And we’ve added to the family. Holidays are always spent with others, and our relationships with these others have enriched our lives greatly.
Now, once more, change is coming. Our first grandchild is due in August, and we move from Florida to North Carolina in July, as I begin serving a new inner-city church with some real challenges ahead.
And so, like I said, I’ve spent the morning in prayer and reflection. The truth is, I’ve been a bit unsettled in my spirit for the last couple of days. To be honest, I don’t like it. But I know what it is. 2 Corinthians 5:7 says, “We walk by faith, not by sight.” Hebrews 11:1 tells us that “faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”
All of us face this unsettling challenge of embracing a life of faith. Without faith, it is impossible to please God. (Hebrews 11:6) It is faith that empowers us to lose our lives and churches to find them. It’s faith that answers the call of Jesus to “follow me.” And it is faith that enables us to continue to enter into the fulness of God’s kingdom. After all, “Repent (change) for the kingdom of God is at hand” was, is, and will always be the message of Jesus.
And would you like to know what fuels this faith that allows you and me to make the changes that God calls us to make? God’s unchanging goodness.
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. (James 1:17)
In Christ,
Dan
Check out my podcasts from Church on the Edge and my books on Kindle.
What a timely message! I am in the process or resigning from the university whare I hve taught over ten years to become a full time pastor. Indeed…changes.