You don’t
have to be in church life long before you hear the depressing stories of
congregations who lived and died with those famous last seven words, “We’ve
never done it that way before” and their twin sister, “We have always done it
that way.” Though I am a traditionalist, I know you cannot keep doing the same
thing over and over and hope for different results. We know that as the
definition of insanity.
Businesses
cannot run the same way they did twenty years ago. Government cannot operate as
if the world has not changed. Professionals cannot perform their businesses
limited to the knowledge they acquired during college days. Change has to come,
and it’s just as true for churches and individuals.
Recently I
was reminded of the opposite of those death-guaranteeing words. These are the
“first seven words”, and they can make all the difference for a business, a
church, and an individual life. Those words are “Not my will but yours be done.”
When
businesses don’t change to meet the new market demands, the result is often
death whether swift or slow. Preferences change. Needs change. Business must
adapt even when it knows its product is still necessary and the best available.
A new language has to be learned and spoken.
When a
church falls into the trap of believing its traditions are equal to its
message, it has moved onto the path of self-destruction. Preservation of the
past becomes more important than discipleship and redemption. Change is seen as
a threat to what is considered most sacred, the church family story. Allegiance
to the sacred traditions becomes the standard for church membership.
Lest we bash
churches as a whole beyond reason, we must remember congregations are not
nameless entities. They are people with strong beliefs about what is right and
proper both for the sacred and the profane. Most often these attitudes are as
visible in personal life as they are on the church stage.
I joke about
remembering the good, old days which seem to get better the older I become. Our
memories become selective as we think about the joys and blessings of a past
age as we compare it to the present. Families spent more time together. We
moved with less hurry and worry. Life was simpler and offered more occasions to
enjoy what the world offered.
Then we
remember days that had temperatures in the 90’s and humidity readings even
higher with no air conditioning. In the winter we remember going to the pond to
cut ice ten inches thick so the cattle could get a drink in the sub-zero
weather. Upstairs in the old farmhouse the air would be cold enough you went to
bed with three quilts over you and your jeans beside you so they would be warm
when you got up the next day for school.
I learned to
appreciate water lines that went underground and didn’t freeze, a hay baler
that created bales to be carried by the tractor instead of me, and a gas
furnace that kept the entire house warm. We laugh about the changes that made
life richer and more productive for us today. We need to think about how we do
church and live our lives before God in the same way.
Jesus knelt
in the Garden of Gethsemane and prayed those special words to his Father after
nearly three years of teaching, preaching, and healing all of which called for
change. (Matthew 13) He had spent three years getting close to a group of
people he said were no longer his servants, but his friends. (John 15:12-17) He
was about to give all that up for a cross and the burden of the sins of the
world. Yet he could still say, “Not my will but yours be done.” (Matthew
26:36-46)
We each have
our traditions. Many of us attend churches where we can enumerate their
non-negotiable patterns of sacred practice. Renewal and revival, so desperately
needed in our churches and our personal lives, need to begin with that very
serious prayer, “Not my will but yours be done.”
