Time Away

I am very well aware of how long it has been since I posted on this blog. I have felt as though there was nothing to say...and then there was no time to write it so that it was said well. So I took a break, wrote a couple of sermons - so I did do some writing - and am looking again for things to say. Time away has been good but it's time to get back to it.

I continue to reflect and pray and listen as we get deeper into the choices around the community center. I am listening to the conversations that are going on around the church and find there is a wide diversity of concerns. Some are just a matter of understanding the details, and some are more troubling because they reveal an underlying fear/inward focus that we know is a deadend for the mission of the church.

The mission of the church is to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. Making followers of Jesus Christ so that the world will be CHANGED. We are part of what gets changed as the world changes. There is so much more that needs to be changed in me, and I want to be part of this transformation but sometimes I''m not sure we all think that. Sometimes I think we look out from our lofty perches and say You need to change, but I'm fine right where I am....

If the mission of the church is to be about those in the world who do not know the love of God, and not to take care of ourselves, then we have to lift up our heads, lift up our eyes and look around to see where we go. FUMC has been blessed to see need in lands far away but we are being called to look a little closer to home too.

I think the best question is why this? Why this broken down building, why this partnership, why this vision? I can't say this enough: This is what God has given us to do. This notion has been lurking around for six months. And believe me when we first heard about it, we (the pastors) were VERY skeptical...and it laid on the shelf for a good six weeks with all of us saying huh? But it also wouldn't die. In each of our prayers, we asked what will you have us do now, God? And the move of the Spirit kept coming back to this idea. Think of the message this gives to this community...this broken down, hopeless building CAN be restored and put to usefulness for good for those who care. "Those people" (insert you) care enough to do this. And it fulfills the feeding, clothing, visiting, call we all have as Christ-followers.

Some have asked, can't we rent another building and do this another way? Of course, but where is the building? Do you know of a place that is in the middle of a neighborhood? A neighborhood in need? Please test your ideas! God will move us to where we need to be...but I'm not seeing anything else in the windshield. So this suggestion becomes a way to undermine the vision we feel we have been given...if you honestly believe there is another way...please bring it forward!

I don't know what the future holds, but I do know that through conversations with other churches, there seems to be a light that dawns as the vision unfolds and people get excited for this "answer to their prayers" about how they can serve the community or fulfill the gifts for ministry that they feel they have been given. Our faith tells us this is God at work, this is the confirmation that comes as we discern everyday.

Save your anger, share your thoughts, the future is open and God is in it!