The old tree had stood on the steep hillside for more than
two centuries. The land around it lay at too sharp an angle to cultivate, so
the tree and the other ancient maples near it had been allowed to grow, getting
larger and older as the decades passed. Now the bark was tough and thick. Moss
and lichens grew in the crevices that stayed moist and never completely dried.
The shade it created kept all other plants from growing in its shadow. The
seasons seemed to have little influence on it.
This autumn, however, something was different. The days grew
shorter. Leaves turned yellow, orange, red, and brown. Falling from the trees
with every breeze, they created a scene in constant motion. All the trees lost
their leaves, all except that one eldest maple.
It stood there on the hillside covered in leaves that had
lost their beauty and become brown, dry, and shriveled while still
clinging to every limb and twig. Earlier in the year spring had come and with
it the new growth. Summer had provided the heat and rain to strengthen branch
and limb. Fall had arrived saying it was time to halt the growth and once more
rest for the explosion of new life that would come following the winter. But
the tree was afraid. What if the spring never came? What if there was no
awakening from the snow and cold of winter? What if these leaves, as brown and
shriveled as they might be, were the last to ever grow upon this tree?
How many individuals make decisions that reflect
the life of that tree? With the changing of the seasons of life, they face each
new year with fear and anger at having to give up what once seemed so permanent
and now is so frail? How many churches see the world changing around them and
in fear hold on to old and ragged tatters of once strong and effective programs
and ministries that now touch no lives and minister to no soul?
The fear of losing what we once took for granted, what we
thought gave life its value, can dominate our thoughts and decisions. Such fear
can impact our relationships with God, with others, and with ourselves. Such
fear can paralyze us in the midst of change, and hold us back when we need to
step forward and embrace what is happening around us.
When churches confront this fear of change, the greatest
weapon is faith in the God who gave the church its birth. The God who brought
forth the church at Pentecost (Acts 2) is also the God of life. Life grows and
changes in that growth. The tree could not and would not have wanted to remain
a sapling. Yet the tree was mortal and mortality brings the guarantee of
physical death.
The Creator-God is also the God of history who will preserve
what he has created for his own purposes. Fear has no place in the hands of
God. His plan fits his purpose. Changes are a part of that plan. His nature
will not change. His purpose for his creation will not change. He created all
things good and he will bring them to their appropriate end.
Local churches to be effective tools in the hand of God must
be willing to accept the changes through which he takes them. To reject that
relationship is to accept the fact that one day they will be seen as covered
with old and shriveled efforts that have no purpose. As such they will only
hinder the new growth that God intends his church to bring forth.
We as people are no different. We hold on to the trappings
of a bygone era thinking that if we can manage to keep the remnants, they will
in some measure retain their original vitality. We choose too often to ignore
that every season brings its blessings and its gifts. Every season has its
purpose. Every season provides unique and vital ways we can express life and share
it with others. When we hold on to the old ways and wrap ourselves in the
trophies of past victories, we only hinder the new opportunities that bring joy
to life.
Old leaves dropped upon the ground in their season provide
the material for the new soil that will one day nurture seeds of trees yet to
sprout. The earth needs those old leaves. People can use their years of experience
to mentor the new generation following them in a world that changes every year.
Seasons change. The world changes. People change. God intended change not to be
feared but to be used to enrich the years ahead.
