Nov. 05.- Walk a New Way

Walk a New Way

Friends,

Thank you to everyone who attended and participated in the Visioning "Bash" that was held on Saturday evening, October 15 in the Fellowship Hall. Fred Wagner helped to put the event together and arranged for our "facilitator," Ross Brindle. Ross did a wonderful job and managed to have us finish right on time at 8:00 p.m. as he had promised - no small task!

Elizabeth Sieber was in charge of providing the meal, which was wonderful - and the desserts - which were also wonderful! There were many, many good ideas, as well as some important concerns that were shared. That shows how much you deeply care about the future of our church community. The challenge now will be to take the material that was generated during the evening, organize it, prioritize it and make decisions about what to act upon, and when, and how.

The Session will be leading this effort, along with members of the Board of Deacons and we hope soon to produce a plan to share with you that takes seriously the areas drawing the most attention and come up with some specific action plans. These will allow us to make some manageable and successful progress. It would be great to be able to say that everything mentioned can or should be done, but we all know a) that not everyone has the same level of agreement on certain issues as others may, and that b) there are just so many good ideas, but not enough of us to really do them all (at least not all at the same time!) in ways that show our best efforts for the Lord - whose business all this is about in the first place, lest we let that essential element slip our minds!

Still, change is good - when change is needed. Of course, if something is not broken, it makes a world of sense not to try and "fix it," and rather let it continue since it's already accomplishing what is needed. Other things can be fixed, though, or improved - and at the very least we can try. But if change is good, change is also hard. Sometimes it means we have to let go of ways with which we've become comfortable. Sometimes also, with the very best of intentions, we unconsciously resist making changes. That's a prime reason that it sometimes feels as if we try and try, again and again, but nothing much seems to make a difference. We get discouraged - and frustrated - and, well, this list can go on and on.

When, on occasion, I've found myself feeling some of these ways, I've found it helpful to refer to a little piece that was originally written by Portia Nelson. In a clever way it describes the sometimes painstaking process of learning by experience. It's called Autobiography in Five Short Chapters. It's the kind of thing that might well belong on our refrigerator doors - or someplace else where we tend to look a lot! That way its lesson has an even greater chance of sinking in. Acknowledging that change is hard, but also that change is possible and even necessary, it goes like this:

I. I walk down the street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I fall in. I am lost. I am helpless. It isn't my fault. It takes forever to find a way out.
II. I walk down the same street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I pretend that I don't see it. I fall in again. I can't believe I'm in the same %^&* place! But it isn't my fault. It still takes a long time to get out.
III. I walk down the same street. There is a deep hole in the side walk. I see it there. I still fall in...It's a habit. My eyes are open. I know where I am. It is my fault. I get out immediately.
IV. I walk down the same street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I walk around it.
V. I walk down another street.

So, as we, like the Israelites who were led after Moses by Joshua, prepare to cross into our promised future (something we are always doing, by God's grace), we can also remember what they were told. "Be strong and courageous; don't be frightened or dismayed. For the Lord your God is with you, wherever you go" (Joshua 1:9 NRSV).

Peace,

Brett