Remember the Future- Thoughts about Change

Our Leadership Team members at One Spirit are reading Bishop Schnase's new book, "Remember the Future" in preparation for a leadership summit next month.  Its been awhile since I blogged but have decided to blog my thoughts about the daily readings, and invite you all to chime in with your thoughts as well. 

The book is set up with twenty-eight chapters and we have agreed to read about one per day.  Our focus is on evangelism, as in our five-year plan, this is our year of evangelism and outreach.

I'm so grateful that Bishop Schnase opened the book by addressing our fear of change.  We have experienced an inordinate amount of change over the last three years at the church, primarily physical changes, but also in the way we have structured ourselves, the way we process things and the way we inter-relate ministries to one another.  For some this has been painful, for others a welcome freshness.  Some have left our fellowship, others have come running to join us.

We are reminded in the opening chapter about Ezra descriptions of the rebuilding of the temple after the Southern Kingdom's returen following the Babylonian exile.  Here they stood looking at the new temple, singing the old songs of Zion...seeing how things had changed.  They were all at once caught up in the excitement of the dawning of a new time ahead, and mourning the days of old, the tradition that was at their very core.

For many, we recognize that to live we must change, and yet that seems so contrary to our dedication to the very traditions that made us who we are.

I often think about the matriarchs and patriarchs of our church here at the corner of 79th and Blue Ridge, and give thanks that they were faithful and built a place to worship God, a place where their families could come to live life, to fellowship as community.  Without their dreams and sacrifice, we would not enjoy the opportunities to worship that we have today.

And yet here we are now, looking at how we can empower the exisiting and ever so different community in the shadow of our steeple, to create a place of worhip for themselves in this space.

It calls for us to leave a legacy, a space, a vision...a Spirit...that will live beyond our time here, so that fifty years from now, a future generation will be blessed...as we are today. 

Just my thoughts....

PB