STABILITY

Our lives are troubled and fraught with difficulties, challenges, and, oh my gosh --change. In every generation. Those behind me face the problems that some of us are escaping. Those ahead of me, although there are not all that many any more, are facing the end times and resolution with their present and past. Technology mushrooms. The environment? Who knows. The financial situation is disastrous. And on and on.

No wonder that we seek some stability for our lives. And so we turn to the church for the sameness that will offer solace and peace. Surprise! The church is not the same. And trying to make it the same is causing it to die. And those that don't want it to die are struggling to find new ways. It is hard. Jan Edmiston's blog has been addressing this issue in the church where she serves for quite a while. Yesterday's blog spelled out many of the stumbling blocks that we face. Do go read it here. It is also worth reading the links to which she points.

The struggles with an emerging church in a staid congregation sets up an "us/them" situation. And this in itself is not healthy and, worse yet, not pastoral. But what to do? This morning as I was thinking through some of these things, I realized that God is the sameness. God is what we are all seeking. And yet.... I think that some have embedded "God" in the rituals of old. Somehow God is lost in the trappings of the sameness that we hold so dear.

Perhaps we will find a way to release God from the bondage we have created and thereby set ourselves free to know the living God once again.