I just read this excellent article from “Neue Weekly” … just had to post it:
It’s Your Choice
By Eric SaundersI currently work at a church that is “going through a transition.”
If you don’t know what “going through a transition” means, basically it is a clever term that we church leaders came up with to describe the state of a church after a lot of people get irritated and leave. So when a well-meaning outsider comes in and asks, “Where did everyone go?” we can say, “We’re going though a transition.” This sounds much better than saying, “Everyone just got up and left.”
It’s been heartbreaking to see the effects that this transitional period has had on the congregation. You can just look at the faces of the people and see that they are ready for something to take place. These people are clearly wishing for a sense of stability and normalcy to return. Much like the exiles in the Old Testament, we are longing for Zion.
However, even in the midst of this pain, something beautiful is emerging. This church is truly starting to understand what it means to persevere. We understand that the church isn’t just a location, and it isn’t just one church in the salad bar of churches around town. We have chosen to live life with each other, and with this choice, we have chosen to persevere. This perseverance is building character, and this character is building hope. This whole process has started with a choice.
This concept of truly choosing to live with each other seems to be so foreign in society today. In normal day-to-day life, if I don’t like what I’m watching on television I can flip the channel. If I don’t like the entire CD I’m listening to, I can pick and choose which songs I want. My options are always open, and I am never pinned down. Even philosophically speaking, we live in an era where ideas should not be fully committed to, for fear that we are doing some sort of “violence” to another point of view. This wouldn’t be America if we didn’t have choices, right?
Sadly, this mentality has infiltrated the Church. Where have we gotten the mentality that, because we have choices, we never have to truly choose? While having a sea of choices is great, I’ve found that many of us are drowning in them. We use the fact that we have choices to gloss over the fact that sometimes we are personally responsible to actually choose and live with it. There comes a time where perseverance is necessary.
The etymology of the word persevere is an interesting one. It has a Latin origin, and it comes from two words that mean “very strict.” This is a word that seems to defy this current intellectual climate. Perseverance occurs when one is stationary and very strict in spite of the unpredictability of change. A person characterized by perseverance tells himself to stay put in his choices. He is committed. In this sense, to choose precedes perseverance.
I think the biblical figure Joshua put it quite profoundly and simply when he said, “Choose this day whom you will serve … as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” In this passage, a choice has to be made. And alongside this choice, Joshua also makes the decision to stick with it. Notice he says, “We will serve the Lord.” It wasn’t a one-time choice for him. Every single day he makes that choice. As followers of Christ, so do we.
Consequently, a church cannot be a church without the inner resolve to constantly choose to be one. When I choose a church, I choose to love these people. I choose to live life with the people. I choose to endure. Over and over again. It is this constancy that the world should attribute to the Church. In spite of the ebb and flow of the world, the Church of Jesus Christ should be a house built on rock, not on shifting sands. It is the rock, Jesus Christ, that undergirds our commitment with one another, because He remains a constant in our lives; He will never leave us nor forsake us. In turn, we should remain a constant in the lives of our brothers and sisters. This is one of the many ways in which we become, as the apostle Paul says, “imitators of God.”
If I sound frustrated, I am. We all are. This transition isn’t pleasant. As a leader, it is troubling to see the pain that is going on around here. But in spite of the societal pressure, we have truly chosen each other. Every day we choose. And, because of the bond we have through Christ, this church will persevere.
