Unpredictability!

September 24, 2020

Unpredictability!

We have learned a great deal during the last seven months.  We have learned how to wash our hands, stay out of other peoples’ faces, and stay home when we are sick.  These are good things to know. 

We have also learned that we are not near as good at forecasting, projecting, and predicting as we thought we were at the beginning of 2020.  We are learning more about what it means to live in a context of unpredictability.

Initially, we were optimistic and believed the pandemic would quickly pass.  Our positive outlook is based in large part on living in a scientific and technological age in which answers come quickly. 

However, as the virus lingered and our efforts to slow the spread seemed too often ineffective, we began to adjust our thinking.  The adjustment has led to some frustration, impatience, and even depression. 

We are being invited to rethink who we are, how we experience community, and where we find God in the midst of everything going on around us.  In the early months of the virus, many of us started the process of rethinking by decluttering our garages and our closets and our drawers. 

Now, many more are decluttering their assumptions about living a life of peace and love and joy.  For sure, the rethinking of assumptions and the decluttering of our lives is not easy.  Many are tired, many are longing for the good old days, and many are simply overwhelmed with all the unpredictability.

The unpredictability and uncertainty of life have always been a reality.  Much of our current challenge is that we forgot how much we do not know.  We tend to believe we are in control of what happens today and are convinced we know everything that is going to happen tomorrow.  When it does not happen the way we thought it would, we are left reaching for something on which to hold.

Today, we may not be so sure about our assumptions as we once were.  However, as our assumptions are challenged, there is an opportunity to realign our heart with God’s heart, to recalibrate our desire with God’s desire, and to readjust our life purpose with God’s purpose.

I wonder if the pandemic has revealed cultural shifts as well as challenges to our assumptions about life and God that were already present but largely unrecognized.  The invitation is to pay attention to the what the Holy Spirit is doing in our lives each day. 

Could now be the opportunity to make a choice to live a healthy and whole and holy life in a way that is so different that it will transform the world in which we live?

Imagine if inviting a friend to worship with a large group of people is replaced by inviting a friend to have a spiritual conversation over a cup of coffee.

Imagine if the majority of people in a local church who are gathering for worship are gathering on-line rather than on-campus.

Imagine if the goal of making and deepening the faith of disciples will be achieved with both in-person experiences we know as well as providing digital opportunities that engage people we have never met.

I am grateful for the high value we have put on gathering with one another around the supper table, the coffee table, and the Communion table.  We know we need one another and we know we need Jesus. 

I am also grateful for the opportunity to reach hundreds (maybe thousands!) of people who might not ever walk through the door to sit at one of those tables.  We know we need the technology and all the communication platforms to share the love of Jesus.

In Romans 8:22-23 we hear a description of our world today.  The Apostle Paul writes; “We know that all creation is still groaning and is in pain, like a woman about to give birth.  The Spirit makes us sure about what we will be in the future.  But now we groan silently, while we wait for God to show that we are his children.”

Our world is groaning and is in pain.  But, something is about to be birthed; something more beautiful than we have known before, something more alive than we have known before, and something more joy-full than we have known before. 

We may be groaning right now with all the unpredictability, but Jesus is about to show us that we are His children.  Let’s prepare our hearts.  Let’s change our attitude.  Let’s pay attention.    

We live in an age of unpredictability and uncertainty.  But, the provision of the Lord God and the love of Jesus and the presence of the Holy Spirit are never uncertain.  The Bible promises a future of God’s choosing and the assurance that we are His children. 

Getting back to “normal” is not the goal.  Rather than spend so much of our energy and our time and our prayers trying to protect what has been, it may be time to give the Holy Spirit room to birth something new.  The opportunity before us is to surrender to what the Holy Spirit is wanting to do in us and through us to transform our world.  When the Holy Spirit births new life in us and in our world we will delight in the Lord.

Take Delight In The Lord!

Doug