When does vision change? As I grow older that question seems pretty silly. As a person with Asthma, for quite some time all they had to treat it was steroids. It changed my vision literally. I ended up with cataracts caused by the steroids. After having them removed, my sight changed. I loved only having to use my readers, although I bought a bunch so I had them in each room of the house. Sort of kidding there. But as I aged again, I soon needed glasses again. I often don;t need them to watch tv but everything else, absolutely. Another change. Here I am about a year or more past my last change and I seem to need another correction. Ugh! Does it ever stop?
I wonder if God's people feel that way sometimes? In my tradition as a Methodist, pastors change churches often. That continues even when research shows longer pastorates are beneficial. When I started to be honest, I had no plan or vision for the church. I just assumed people would come. My next appointment offered more possibilities but in a highly Catholic area, my expectations were too high. Not to mention the number of UMCS within a mile or more of that church. As I moved to each charge and stayed a little longer each time my vision changed. I soon began to learn that many times when a pastor leaves, there is not just a miss of a step or two but a fall down the whole staircase. I had to do more than preach, it meant teaching. Teaching that from day one of my arrival I needed to prepare then for my leaving. Sounds kind of bleak but in reality there is a lot of hope in between those moments.
So what vision has God given me? For the church to be able to keep doing ministry and stay together, they need to do the ministry together. That means, no more top down but side by side teamwork where the people take stock of who they ar and what they are called to do. Sounds good on paper huh? Or should I say looks good on the screen? I believe I am preaching to help people see what the church and each of us is called to be and do. Second, I am working to get the committees to know their duties and responsibilities and finding people to take on the challenges of working together. They are not to be a place where I push an agenda and get them to rubber stamp it.
There was a time where I am serving was literally busting at the seams. They developed a vision based on where they were and found some property. There they hoped to start a "second campus" and eventually build a new church. But times change. Pastors changed, people moved, left and the busting at the seams slowly dropped off. The vision is still talked about but all the changes have begun to spawn questions about what we do with property. What is God calling us to do and be because we are not now what we were then?
When I was helping coach my son's baseball team, I can remember many of the kids who would go through hitting streaks and slumps. They loved "crushing" the ball into the outfield. Funny how when they hit the ball just right they stood and looked at it fly admiring it instead of running. "Run!!!" We would scream from the bench. When they lost their technique we often had to help them anaylise their swing and help them get the basics back. Sometimes it worked other times, not. BUt the bottome line was we had to go back to basics.
As we in so many churches are finding out, we are swinging for the fence with one program or another and can't figure out why we can't hit the ball. Maybe we all need to take some time to figure out why? Best place to do that is in the Book of Acts. We need to learn to live and grow with each other. We need to get to know each other. And when people see what hope we have in how we live, they will ask the question, "Where do you get that hope?"
The vision for where I am at has changed. It is time to see the Great Physician and get back to basics:
- Works of Piety, such as:
- Individual Practices--
- Prayer
- Fasting
- Searching the Scriptures
- Healthy Living
- Communal Practices--
- Holy Communion
- Baptism
- Christian Conferencing (or "community")
- Works of Mercy, such as:
- Service focused toward individual needs--
- Doing Good (Good works)
- Visiting the Sick
- Visiting the Imprisoned
- Feeding & Clothing those in need
- Earning, Saving, & Giving all one can
- Service focused toward communal/societal needs--
- the Seeking of Justice;
- Only by living in this way, will a new vision for God's people be found. We might live in the same frames but the new lenses of faith/vision will give us clarity. Now if you'll excuse me I have to find my own glasses... Peace
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