New vs Old and Familiar

I have a friend who wants a new car, one that more closely meets the needs of her current life. However, she’s hesitant to give up the old one, because she knows where all the buttons and knobs are. She doesn’t have to think about how to turn on the lights when it gets dark, or run the wipers when it’s raining. This little problem has kept her from making a decision for more than a year.

We have this problem times 1,000 in the church. We don’t just know where all the buttons and knobs are – we love our church. Over time we have fit ourselves to it, and it to us. It seems just about right, if possibly a little empty. Letting go of our old church in order to have a new one that better suits the times is not an easy process.

Last week I heard Dr. Diana Butler Bass speak in Seattle. She’s a leading thinker about the future of the church. Dr. Bass shared a revelation she had about a year ago. As she traveled around the country speaking to groups about the church, over and over again she encountered the deep grief people were feeling about the loss of the parts of church that had been so important to them. The revelation wasn't the grief, but the way Bass herself was taking it on, how it was affecting her physical and emotional health. She had to take steps to ground herself in the midst of all that grief.

We have grief we need to recognize and process. Each of us can’t move on without doing so. We also have to recognize that our grief can infect and affect others, particularly our leaders. We need them to acknowledge our grief, but we can’t expect them to carry it for us, nor should we want them to linger there with us. We need them to look forward, to that place beyond the grief where there is hope and abundant life. It is the promise of our faith.

Greg