services of worship

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Advent is over, Christmas has come and gone, the kids and grandkids have departed, the tree is down and the Christmas decorations have been packed away in their boxes and stored away in that room in the basement that was the subject of a New Year’s resolution a couple of years ago; you remember the one? The one about cleaning out the storage room? To make a long story short, that resolution remains in play. But I digress. In two days, as I write this, we will be into a new year; we will be into a new decade. The aughts and teens are behind us, we are on to properly named decades and our first properly named year of the 21st century; twenty-twenty, 2020, or MMXX if you will. Trust me, I know this “properly named decade” thing is a figment of my imagination, but I take some slight satisfaction in arriving at this point in the century. Maybe that is because as a youth I imagined what it would be like at this point in my life. But again, I digress.

Regardless of how you feel about our arrival at this new decade, we are now firmly into the 21st century and it is time we let go of that last century and grab hold of the century before us. For those of us in the church, it is a time of change and we all need to contemplate the direction of the church in these new days ahead. We could decide to continue with the status quo, to keep doing things as we’ve always done them, and to expect the same results. Or we could opt for full-scale embracing the change and opportunities before us and not being sure of the results. On one hand, we assure ourselves of a long but certain decline into oblivion. On the other hand, we reject tradition and experience and strike out into the unknown with a Yogi Berra sensibility of “We’ll know where we’re going when we get there.” Neither end of that spectrum seems a stable choice to me.

So, what are we to do? It appears obvious to me that now is a good time to seriously consider our future together as a community of faith. It is a good time because we are not in dire straits either theologically or financially. We have a perfect opportunity to discern ways forward without the added stress of pending doom.  I would suggest we rely on the genius that is the historical church; 2000 years of tradition, experience, change and a foundation in the scriptures. Centuries of utilizing the past to chart a new future. While we can’t do things as we’ve always done them and expect different results, we can keep what works and try new pathways as we journey forward together.

What we must decide, as a church, is that we need to begin the process of discernment and step forward with the grace and confidence of children of a loving God; a common New Year’s resolution. Think about it, won’t you?

See you Sunday!

Grace and Peace,

Pastor Kelly