The Future and the Past Are Not the Same
Dear friends,
The Psalm for this morning in the daily lectionary is one of my favorites -- Psalm 27. The writer gives the clear impression that his enemies are all around him, even his family is against him, and he is looking desperately for a place to hide. Thankfully, the songwriter is not just running away, he is running toward God -- more specifically, God's Temple. He begins with the words that have thrilled my soul for many years:
The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?
This morning when I arose from sleep, it was very cold. Yesterday, also, it was very cold. For two days before that it was cold and very damp. I am sure that by now you know that this is spinal cord code for, "I have felt quite bad all this week." I wake up with muscle spasms that twist me to the right, to the left, and sometimes back to the right. After an hour of stretching, it is quite discouraging to have 2-3 hard muscle spasms that threaten to undo all of our good exercise.
Unfortunately that is the reality that I am dealing with. May 2004 seems like a million years ago in many ways. Some of you may remember my reflection that I had chosen to connect this difficult and painful injury with God's calling to me and this goes back a long way. My inward call to serve God as a Minister of the Word and Sacrament came at a very early age. As a senior in high school this calling was confirmed by the church through my involvement in the dynamic youth ministry of the Black Rock Congregational Church in Bridgeport, Connecticut.
In 1971 the Church confirmed my inward calling, my gifts and my Christian experience by ordaining me to the Ministry of the Word and Sacrament. During my early days of service, I could not imagine doing anything but education/youth ministry. Within a few years, God impressed on me that I had a gift for preaching -- and even gave me the desire! After several years as an Associate Pastor, God called me to do something I never thought I would do -- serve as pastor/head of staff. Although I never thought I would serve on a Presbytery staff, once again God showed me that I had gifts for this kind of work and, once again, the church confirmed my call.
After nearly 34 years of ordained ministry, I can affirm unequivocally two things: that God's ways are always surprising, and that God's path has always been good. Please notice, I did not say that God's path has always been easy -- I said that God's path has always been good. I really mean that, even in my present circumstances.
Back in May 2004 I knew that my future was going to be different from my past. Even though I understood it theoretically, I really could not picture that I would still feel the way I do -- in my body -- 10 months after the injury. Surely I would snap back to normality and full health because I had always done so in the past. I have always been a fast healer; I have always defied the odds and done better than my doctors predicted. After all, I have always been a bit of an overachiever! This time it was different.
Although I have done remarkably well, considering the gravity of my injury, I am not nearly back to what I was a year ago. My gritty, can-do self will never give up. I will keep stretching, exercising, and otherwise knocking myself out because I want to drive a car again; I want to play golf again; I want to play the guitar again. Why not just say it? I want my old life back!
By the way, the previous sentence was said with great passion. I really want my old life back! I really, really want my old life back! I suppose I could add "really" a dozen more times because I obviously feel strongly about this. The problem here is that I can't have my old life back. It is absolutely impossible for me to be what I was 12 months ago, mostly because that was 12 months ago. I have to deal with today's reality that I am a seriously injured person who as far as I can tell is still called of God and confirmed by the Church as a Minister of the Word and Sacrament. The calling has not changed, but the context has changed.
The reality is that I am an incredibly diligent, hard-working, recovering quadriplegic who is gifted and called by God, and whose future will be different from his past. When I was a patient at the Shepherd Center, part of my rehabilitation involved group counseling. For obvious reasons, we were warned about depression as a very real possibility, especially if the road to recovery was steep, rocky, and unproductive. Since the very beginning, I have not been depressed because my heart was filled and strengthen by today's Psalm:
The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?
This strong passage helps me when my legs do not behave and when my hands do not work very well. This strong passage helps me when I can barely get into the shower and when I cut myself shaving because the razor gets too heavy. This passage helps me face the prospect of preaching, leading session retreats, and counseling with my colleagues in ministry even though I tire very easily. This passage gives me great hope for the future because I know, by the very nature of things, that my future will be different from my past. And, by the way, that is both a little scary and very good at the same time.
I have been reading C.S. Lewis' Space Trilogy. The second of the three books is Perelandra. This one is about Dr. Ransom, the great philologist who goes to Venus to deal with the age-old question of temptation and evil. Early in the story, he meets a Green Lady who turns out to be the extraterrestrial "first woman." As Ransom is learning the rules on this young planet, the Lady speaks of the awesome power of moving into the future.
She tells him, "Among the times there is a time that turns a corner and everything this side of it is new. Times do not go backward."
Dr. Ransom and the Lady continue their conversation several pages later as follows: "the world is so much larger than I thought. I thought we went along paths -- but it seems there are no paths. The going itself is the path." As they continue, Ransom learns that the path is unpredictable and often dangerous. Indeed, the future will never be like the past, but there is no need to fear -- The LORD is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?
Moving into the future is a difficult business to be sure. As I move into my future, I do so exercising three powerful disciplines: prayer, theological reflection, intensive physical therapy. These three disciplines are for one purpose, and one purpose only -- my capacity to play a continuing role in God's mission in and through Cherokee Presbytery. Certainly at some point this may change, but I will have to deal with that if and when it happens. I simply cannot deal with what might happen -- I can only deal with what is!
In closing I want to direct your attention to something new on the World Wide Web -- our newly redesigned Cherokee Presbytery web site, www.Cherokeepby.com. I am very grateful to Jo Clark who designed and created the site. As always, we hope you will visit the site often and especially that you will send suggestions as to how we can make it more useful for your church's needs.
On the homepage click on the link, "About Us," where you will find the reasons for which Cherokee Presbytery exists. That is, you will find our Mission Statement; you will find our Commonly Held Values; and you will find Our Commonly Held Assumptions. Here is where I would like you to focus your attention.
We assume that we are an Evangelistic community.
We assume that we are a Holy community.
We assume that we are a community of Vocation.
We assume that we are an Ethical community.
We assume that we are organized for Mission and not Maintenance.
We are a Worshiping community.
Obviously we are a diverse Presbytery made up of diverse congregations. I hope we can agree however that there are some things we all do and believe in very strongly. Another way to put it is that there are church practices that must be embraced and developed. Further, without paying careful attention to these practices we may actually lose our life while trying to preserve it.
I hope you will take these questions to heart. They do not propose a program, only a missional framework. Only you can provide the specific cultural analysis to open up these questions and make them live. Moving into God's future is scary business, but trying to get your church back to God's past will drive you crazy!
The peace of Christ be with you,
Jim
The Psalm for this morning in the daily lectionary is one of my favorites -- Psalm 27. The writer gives the clear impression that his enemies are all around him, even his family is against him, and he is looking desperately for a place to hide. Thankfully, the songwriter is not just running away, he is running toward God -- more specifically, God's Temple. He begins with the words that have thrilled my soul for many years:
The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?
This morning when I arose from sleep, it was very cold. Yesterday, also, it was very cold. For two days before that it was cold and very damp. I am sure that by now you know that this is spinal cord code for, "I have felt quite bad all this week." I wake up with muscle spasms that twist me to the right, to the left, and sometimes back to the right. After an hour of stretching, it is quite discouraging to have 2-3 hard muscle spasms that threaten to undo all of our good exercise.
Unfortunately that is the reality that I am dealing with. May 2004 seems like a million years ago in many ways. Some of you may remember my reflection that I had chosen to connect this difficult and painful injury with God's calling to me and this goes back a long way. My inward call to serve God as a Minister of the Word and Sacrament came at a very early age. As a senior in high school this calling was confirmed by the church through my involvement in the dynamic youth ministry of the Black Rock Congregational Church in Bridgeport, Connecticut.
In 1971 the Church confirmed my inward calling, my gifts and my Christian experience by ordaining me to the Ministry of the Word and Sacrament. During my early days of service, I could not imagine doing anything but education/youth ministry. Within a few years, God impressed on me that I had a gift for preaching -- and even gave me the desire! After several years as an Associate Pastor, God called me to do something I never thought I would do -- serve as pastor/head of staff. Although I never thought I would serve on a Presbytery staff, once again God showed me that I had gifts for this kind of work and, once again, the church confirmed my call.
After nearly 34 years of ordained ministry, I can affirm unequivocally two things: that God's ways are always surprising, and that God's path has always been good. Please notice, I did not say that God's path has always been easy -- I said that God's path has always been good. I really mean that, even in my present circumstances.
Back in May 2004 I knew that my future was going to be different from my past. Even though I understood it theoretically, I really could not picture that I would still feel the way I do -- in my body -- 10 months after the injury. Surely I would snap back to normality and full health because I had always done so in the past. I have always been a fast healer; I have always defied the odds and done better than my doctors predicted. After all, I have always been a bit of an overachiever! This time it was different.
Although I have done remarkably well, considering the gravity of my injury, I am not nearly back to what I was a year ago. My gritty, can-do self will never give up. I will keep stretching, exercising, and otherwise knocking myself out because I want to drive a car again; I want to play golf again; I want to play the guitar again. Why not just say it? I want my old life back!
By the way, the previous sentence was said with great passion. I really want my old life back! I really, really want my old life back! I suppose I could add "really" a dozen more times because I obviously feel strongly about this. The problem here is that I can't have my old life back. It is absolutely impossible for me to be what I was 12 months ago, mostly because that was 12 months ago. I have to deal with today's reality that I am a seriously injured person who as far as I can tell is still called of God and confirmed by the Church as a Minister of the Word and Sacrament. The calling has not changed, but the context has changed.
The reality is that I am an incredibly diligent, hard-working, recovering quadriplegic who is gifted and called by God, and whose future will be different from his past. When I was a patient at the Shepherd Center, part of my rehabilitation involved group counseling. For obvious reasons, we were warned about depression as a very real possibility, especially if the road to recovery was steep, rocky, and unproductive. Since the very beginning, I have not been depressed because my heart was filled and strengthen by today's Psalm:
The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?
This strong passage helps me when my legs do not behave and when my hands do not work very well. This strong passage helps me when I can barely get into the shower and when I cut myself shaving because the razor gets too heavy. This passage helps me face the prospect of preaching, leading session retreats, and counseling with my colleagues in ministry even though I tire very easily. This passage gives me great hope for the future because I know, by the very nature of things, that my future will be different from my past. And, by the way, that is both a little scary and very good at the same time.
I have been reading C.S. Lewis' Space Trilogy. The second of the three books is Perelandra. This one is about Dr. Ransom, the great philologist who goes to Venus to deal with the age-old question of temptation and evil. Early in the story, he meets a Green Lady who turns out to be the extraterrestrial "first woman." As Ransom is learning the rules on this young planet, the Lady speaks of the awesome power of moving into the future.
She tells him, "Among the times there is a time that turns a corner and everything this side of it is new. Times do not go backward."
Dr. Ransom and the Lady continue their conversation several pages later as follows: "the world is so much larger than I thought. I thought we went along paths -- but it seems there are no paths. The going itself is the path." As they continue, Ransom learns that the path is unpredictable and often dangerous. Indeed, the future will never be like the past, but there is no need to fear -- The LORD is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?
Moving into the future is a difficult business to be sure. As I move into my future, I do so exercising three powerful disciplines: prayer, theological reflection, intensive physical therapy. These three disciplines are for one purpose, and one purpose only -- my capacity to play a continuing role in God's mission in and through Cherokee Presbytery. Certainly at some point this may change, but I will have to deal with that if and when it happens. I simply cannot deal with what might happen -- I can only deal with what is!
In closing I want to direct your attention to something new on the World Wide Web -- our newly redesigned Cherokee Presbytery web site, www.Cherokeepby.com. I am very grateful to Jo Clark who designed and created the site. As always, we hope you will visit the site often and especially that you will send suggestions as to how we can make it more useful for your church's needs.
On the homepage click on the link, "About Us," where you will find the reasons for which Cherokee Presbytery exists. That is, you will find our Mission Statement; you will find our Commonly Held Values; and you will find Our Commonly Held Assumptions. Here is where I would like you to focus your attention.
We assume that we are an Evangelistic community.
We assume that we are a Holy community.
We assume that we are a community of Vocation.
We assume that we are an Ethical community.
We assume that we are organized for Mission and not Maintenance.
We are a Worshiping community.
Obviously we are a diverse Presbytery made up of diverse congregations. I hope we can agree however that there are some things we all do and believe in very strongly. Another way to put it is that there are church practices that must be embraced and developed. Further, without paying careful attention to these practices we may actually lose our life while trying to preserve it.
I hope you will take these questions to heart. They do not propose a program, only a missional framework. Only you can provide the specific cultural analysis to open up these questions and make them live. Moving into God's future is scary business, but trying to get your church back to God's past will drive you crazy!
The peace of Christ be with you,
Jim
posted by Pierce | 8:00 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home