This week, I received news updates via various websites and NPR radio stations about the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, and the efforts that are underway to aid in the recovery following this terrible ecological catastrophe. This week, I saw facebook updates from friends in Tennessee (including Andra Moran, whose song we just sang) regarding cleanup efforts following last week’s terrible flooding. This week, I received email updates that keep me up-to-date on what’s going on in our region and denomination, including the work of our missionaries, people like Gloria Vicente and her family, currently serving in Guatemala. This week, I talked with a young friend in Brazil, a man who, when he was a teenager, lived with my family as an exchange student, about an important career decision he was facing. And, this week, I received twitter updates from an organization called Discover the Journey, which works with former child soldiers in the Congo.
It is so easy to stay connected these days, to know what’s going on in the world. Telephone, email, facebook, twitter, news websites and NPR radio stations… In fact, sometimes it’s too easy. Sometimes, if I’m working in my office, I will struggle to resist the temptation to keep checking for updates from these various sources while I go about my other work. After all, how much could things have changed in the ten minutes since I last checked?
Thank God for my day of rest, when – more often then not – I don’t even turn the computer on at all. Our connections to the world around us are a blessing … but sometimes it is also a blessing to disconnect for awhile.
The apostle Paul started or helped start communities of believers in many cities scattered throughout the Roman Empire. One day Paul decided that he should check up on these groups, see how they were doing. Too bad for him, though: he couldn’t call them, he couldn’t send them an email or facebook message; he couldn’t even send them a text message to say, “Yo. Wassup?” So he embarked on a journey, on foot and by boat, to visit every city and see how the followers of Jesus were doing in each place.
The scripture doesn’t say how much preparation was involved. In fact, it doesn’t seem that there was much preparation. Paul just chose some people, and “set out,” with the blessing of other believers who sent him on his way.
If I had been one of those chose to accompany Paul, I think I would have been frustrated. For much of my life – and my parents will confirm this – I have been the sort of person who wanted to see and know what was going to happen, before it happened. I want the itinerary all laid out. I want to know where we’re going, and when we’re going to get there, and how.
Paul, on the other hand, seemed to have enough faith in God to just trust that he would get to where he needed to be, when he needed to be there.
Jesus seemed to work the same way: he said “follow me,” and people did, with no hesitation or time for preparation. And when he sent his disciples out to minister in his name, he told them to take nothing with them: no purse, no bag, no sandals; but to instead rely on the Holy Spirit and the hospitality of the people they met. He told them to not worry about what they would eat, what they would wear. He told them to not worry, not be afraid, not be anxious.
Well, the way I overcome anxiety is to figure everything out all in advance, but Jesus says no – the way to overcome anxiety is to have faith. I read just this week that the opposite of faith is not doubt; it’s fear. We think of faith and doubt as opposites, but no, that’s not true; the opposite of faith is anxiety and fear. Scripture tells us: “Have faith! Do not fear!” Scripture does not say: “Have faith! Do not doubt.” I had heard and read this before, but given my own anxieties, it’s something I need to hear again. And again.
If I had been with Paul – if I had been Paul – I probably would have wanted everything all figured out in advance. But that’s not the way Paul rolled. Called to take a journey, Paul “set out” before taking the time to finalize the details. As a result, Paul was able to be more flexible with his plans, and more open to the leading and guiding of God’s Spirit.
Which reminds me: have I ever told you about the Blank Bulletin Incident? It happened at my last church, when I began to feel that we were overplanning everything, figuring out all the details, and leaving little room for the Spirit to work among us. And so, one week, I told the secretary to leave the inside of the bulletin blank. That Sunday, the worship bulletin listed no hymns, no scripture readings,… nothing; because none of those things were prepared in advance. Not even a sermon. I told no one, except one or two who were scheduled to lead in worship that Sunday.
Let me tell you, it was very difficult for me to have faith that week, and not fear. When the day came, I began worship by saying that we were going to let the Spirit lead us that morning, and that we’d figure things out as we went. And we did. We sang hymns. We read scripture. We did a lot of things following the worship format that we knew by heart, but we also did a few things differently. Most importantly, we learned to let the Spirit lead us.
Anyway, Paul did have a mission; he did have a general roadmap of where he wanted to go, the places he needed to visit. But he didn’t worry too much about the details. As we know, setbacks can occur. The map doesn’t tell us when a bridge is closed for construction. The map doesn’t tell us about the place that serves the best hamburgers which is located, as it always is, some miles off the main road. Paul knew that a lot of the details of the journey would have to be worked out on the way, and that the important thing was to get started. Paul didn’t want to get stuck in what Martin Luther King, Jr., referred to as the paralysis of analysis. So he didn’t spend an excessive amount of time worrying about the details.
It all reminds me of Abraham, the patriarch of three religions, who followed God’s call to a new land. I’m not even sure that he knew exactly where he was going, or how he was going to get there. One thing scripture is very clear about is that his journey took place by stages. He didn’t get there right away; this suggests to me that the journey was at least as important as the destination.
It also reminds me of the Hebrews, when Moses led them out of Egypt. Yes, they had a destination, but good grief, it took them forty years to get there. And scripture tells us that God was leading them. Maybe if they had found someone else to lead them, it wouldn’t have taken so long. But with God, the journey itself was important. It began suddenly, with little time for preparation; not even enough time for the bread to rise. But once they started on their way, there was no hurry to get to the end.
On his journey, Paul had a vision, which led to a detour through Macedonia. Had he planned out his itinerary and insisted on sticking to it, he might not have allowed himself this little detour. Then he would have missed out on the wonderful hospitality of a woman named Lydia. He would have missed out on the opportunity to share the gospel to some people whose hearts were open and yearning for good news. And possibly he would have missed out on some good food – maybe even the world’s best hamburger.
A lot of people set goals for themselves, and those that don’t probably should. Some, working by themselves or with their families, even come up with their own mission statement, a process which allows them to focus on their values, and on who and what God is calling them to be.
A lot of churches have also set goals. A lot of churches have come up with identity statements and mission statements and have even developed a roadmap of sorts to guide them in their ministry.
But you can’t think about such things forever. At some point, you need to start the journey. You need to start moving those feet, and go where God is calling you.
You know, over the past five or six years I’ve heard a lot about church transformation; and most of what I’ve heard is good, really good. You probably know that the Disciples of Christ is working to establish 1,000 new congregations, but did you know that we are also working to transform 1,000 existing congregations?
As a result I’ve been to a number of transformation workshops and conferences and summits and forums. I’ve read a whole bookshelf of books on church transformation, and I’ve heard dozens of “experts” speak on transformation. It was a diverse group of readings and speakers, and they all said stuff that was good and useful.
But there was one thing they all said. They all said that, in order to transform, in order to revitalize, you need to do something. At some point, you need to stop talking, stop planning, stop reading, stop going to conferences, stop brainstorming, stop preparing … and start doing.
That, it seems, is the key to transformation. Churches that are transforming, churches that are growing, churches that have found new life – they’re all doing something different; God has called them to different forms of ministry, and the way one church is doing ministry may not be right for another church.
But the point is that they are all doing something.
Maybe everything you do won’t succeed. Maybe – like Paul – you will find your way blocked at times, and forced to take a detour. Maybe, like the Hebrews leaving Egypt, you will hear people saying “Wait! We’re not ready! We don’t know where we’re going; we need to go back!” And maybe you’ll decide that perhaps you do need to think about things a while longer.
But, as Ashleigh Brilliant said, “Unless you move, the place where you are is the place where you will always be.” Think about that for a moment.
And consider these words from Barbara Brown Taylor: “The practice itself will teach you what you need to know.” The only way to know what God wants you to do is to start doing it, and learn as you go. The practice itself will teach you what you need to know. The journey itself will show you where you are to go.
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