Right now,almost everyone is rushing about in the hustle and bustle of the Christmas rush, trying to make sure they get the right gift for those special people in their lives. We do push out the boat, and sometimes pay the price of not being able to enjoy Christmas as much as you once did when you were younger and had no responsibilities. How times change.
By the time Christmas day dawns (and even before that!) you are truly frazzled in the preparation for the family bursting through your door, and that much anticipated big Christmas dinner around a full table. Who can blame the ones who come bearing gifts, but they are not the ones who have been preparing right up to the last minute to get all the gifts, as well as the big turkey, or salmon, or vegetarian dinner with all the trimmings.
By Boxing Day, the hostess and host get a chance to relax a little, kick back, have the house to themselves, and eat the leftovers from a plate on their knee in the living room watching the TV movie they missed. Oh the joy. There are so many left overs of starters, main courses, and desserts, they will last for the coming days in the run up to New Year. Oh no, that’s when it all starts again for some others in the family to return the favour, this time with the traditional steak pie (or vegetarian) dinner. I suggest the time to really relax is around the end of the first week of the new year and a subscription to Weight Watchers!
As believers, we are blessed above others because we do not lose sight of the reason for the season, and for us whether it’s the baby Jesus in the manger, the Saviour on the cross, or the resurrected King, these can always be in our heart and mind. After all, the God-Man is now at the right hand of His Father praying and interceding for us in all our days. After all, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Hebrews13:8NIV
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Showing posts with label today. Show all posts
Showing posts with label today. Show all posts
Tuesday, 18 December 2018
Monday, 12 March 2018
The Bathwater
When change happens too quickly, and we are not quite ready for any of it, we are always in danger of things going wrong. Change happens in all walks of life, whether at work, in the family, or even our relationships, however in my experience there is no more dangerous place for change quite like a church fellowship.
Since change will always happen in all walks of life, we must accept it and get used to the idea, but it is never a good thing to make changes without taking the other affected people along with you. If they are left behind, the intended changes can only partly be made, if at all! However, I believe the greater danger is that some will be so adamant about the benefits of change that the baby is thrown out with the bathwater. Not only does nothing positive happen, but we are left further back than we were before the change was proposed. There are times when doing nothing is better than any change.
Now here’s the dilemma. We dearly love in the Lord those who differ from our own views, and like them I want our church both local and general to grow, but…. what if those strongly held beliefs on each side do not come together, or agree? What if each side thinks the other has it partly or all wrong? On one corner the old timers who don’t want to change if it’s for change’s sake, and on the other side the younger progressive who wants the church to change in order to better relate to the world and the sinner? Both would agree that the end result of changed lives for the Kingdom is the most important outcome, but there needs to be some agreement in how we go about it!
An engineer is responsible in helping to make change happen, and in my case that would have been a new process or product introduced in an assembly line. The changes were usually obvious, needed, and went ahead without any difficulty. Occasionally however, a change would fail, either in part or the whole, and had to be cancelled. My experience was that undoing the change was more difficult, expensive, and took longer than the effort and time taken to put it into place. One of the real deep seated outcomes was the loss of confidence in the minds of the staff who operated the assembly. They rightly expected those with the authority and responsibility to think it through beforehand and get it right by the time it was implemented. My parallel is this: Much care is needed to prevent changes being made in a church fellowship which would create more problems than they would solve. This could show itself in regular attendees losing morale, confidence, respect, and sadly in some cases attendance. No one wants that! A rule of thumb is, the greater the proposed change, the greater the risk of it going wrong at least in part. It is worth remembering that human nature is the same as in Bible times, and more importantly that the Gospel still applies because:
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Hebrews 13:8
Since change will always happen in all walks of life, we must accept it and get used to the idea, but it is never a good thing to make changes without taking the other affected people along with you. If they are left behind, the intended changes can only partly be made, if at all! However, I believe the greater danger is that some will be so adamant about the benefits of change that the baby is thrown out with the bathwater. Not only does nothing positive happen, but we are left further back than we were before the change was proposed. There are times when doing nothing is better than any change.
Now here’s the dilemma. We dearly love in the Lord those who differ from our own views, and like them I want our church both local and general to grow, but…. what if those strongly held beliefs on each side do not come together, or agree? What if each side thinks the other has it partly or all wrong? On one corner the old timers who don’t want to change if it’s for change’s sake, and on the other side the younger progressive who wants the church to change in order to better relate to the world and the sinner? Both would agree that the end result of changed lives for the Kingdom is the most important outcome, but there needs to be some agreement in how we go about it!
An engineer is responsible in helping to make change happen, and in my case that would have been a new process or product introduced in an assembly line. The changes were usually obvious, needed, and went ahead without any difficulty. Occasionally however, a change would fail, either in part or the whole, and had to be cancelled. My experience was that undoing the change was more difficult, expensive, and took longer than the effort and time taken to put it into place. One of the real deep seated outcomes was the loss of confidence in the minds of the staff who operated the assembly. They rightly expected those with the authority and responsibility to think it through beforehand and get it right by the time it was implemented. My parallel is this: Much care is needed to prevent changes being made in a church fellowship which would create more problems than they would solve. This could show itself in regular attendees losing morale, confidence, respect, and sadly in some cases attendance. No one wants that! A rule of thumb is, the greater the proposed change, the greater the risk of it going wrong at least in part. It is worth remembering that human nature is the same as in Bible times, and more importantly that the Gospel still applies because:
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Hebrews 13:8
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