The Haxtun-Fleming Herald - What can we reason but from what we know? -Alexander Pope

Set aside grandstanding, bickering, politicizing and anger. Send them packing in short order along with impatience, intolerance, ungratefulness and wont. Unguarded emotions and irritable conversations are also ­­not welcome for a time. Reclaim ownership of your life from the media noise and hype. This is not a call to reject personal belief in favor of anything or anyone. Most of us will not change our minds or positions on most issues anyway. We should at least heed a call to respect others enough to never assume that we alone have the correct view or answer. A little bit of selfishness is allowed, however. Hang on to your assumptions for as long as they hold water and fill your needs, then do something unprecedented … move on.

In his short recorded three-year ministry, Jesus was always moving on, geographically, physically, mentally, spiritually. He never intended something akin to semester finals to be a summation of all that one needed to know or experience. Although he cared deeply for learning, he perplexed the priests and scribes in the temple with his readiness to challenge the norms of the time. He saw every setting as an opportunity for change and growth, not only for others but for himself as well. It had to be tough for him when so much of what he had to say was not considered conventional wisdom in the moment.

The uncertain days of the last six months are windows for learning and growth. What do churches have to offer now, today, and in the future? Here’s one view.

The church will have to adapt in ways it has just begun to realize. It will no longer be a place of words without action or sermons starved of substance. Younger generations will recognize church as something that resides organically within community, something attentive, responsive, humble. Sacredness will flow beyond relational boundaries of dismissal and hate. Successful churches, however that standard is applied, will embody the best of Christian principles without demand and coercion. We will act because we are called, serve because we are served, and love because it is too destructive to hate. And we will do so in the moment; one hour, one day, one week at a time, never underestimating the patience and endurance of highly committed ideals.

Church will move beyond buildings and the accoutrements of worship. For a time, the church’s ego will suffer mightily, but then it will find itself and its place, an equilibrium of sorts that will forgive its past and move toward a healthier future. As individuals, we will seek God’s presence in more numerous ways, always querying in the moment how God is with us and in us, and God will answer in ways that surprise as we allow the din of every day anxieties to fade to the background.

Perhaps then we will more frequently reflect that amidst the troubles of life are also sustaining elements. After a month of dangerous storms, damaging hail, and drought conditions, we gauge the promise of each day by the good that is present — new growth on fragile trees, the presence of dragonflies, frogs that sing, birds that somehow persevere and toads enjoying life under the yard light. Friends and neighbors become part of our daily renewal as well, a gift too valuable to squander.

Traditional church is changing. Let’s put our best foot forward from the start.