If you’ve been following along with me, you know that I started this blog just one year ago at the beginning of a big year of change and new growth. I didn’t say it, but my 2017 New Year’s “resolution”, if you will, was to simply write out one blog post at least once a month. At least 12 blog posts, how hard could that be? I have never ever stuck to a New Year’s resolution and often don’t state them because I tend not to follow through, and then I feel disappointed. But 2017 didn’t disappoint, and I stayed true to my goal and even passed it. Writing has become therapeutic for me, whether I’m digging into something deep or simply writing about food or a craft or something that interests me. I don't focus on who will read or even care if anyone reads. I do it for me. It forces me to slow down and look inward.
I was reminded of slowing down just this past Sunday at church. We had the pleasure of hearing a guest speaker as the pastor was out of town, and I don’t think it was a coincidence because he spoke on prayer – something I indeed struggle with. Let me rewind here for a moment and tell you my journey of finding a “new” church community. These are simply my thoughts and opinions and reflect in no way the value or substance of any church style or community. And I won’t use names because that doesn’t matter. It’s just what I experienced. Moving to Spokane, I was definitely most nervous about finding friends and finding a church community. If you know me, you probably know that I have a deep love for my home church (DF) and the community and sense of support I feel there. Even when I went to college in Auburn, I had a difficult time finding a church or feeling at home for those few years. The truth is that DF ruined me for “church” – and I don’t mean that in a bad way. Now I know we aren’t supposed to compare this to that, and by no means is DF or any church perfect. But man is it hard to find a place like home. Fast forward to Spokane. We did many Google searches, drive by’s and such looking for a new church to call home while we’re here. We actually found a pretty good fit if you remember reading a few blog posts back about the sweet little old lady who reminded me to “Just keep following Jesus” and everything else would fall into place. We actually kept going to this church for a couple of months, and my main drawback was that it just felt so big that we weren’t connecting with anyone. Sure, we interacted with the door greeters who always had a big smile, a firm handshake, and the bold “good morning!” or “welcome!” But that just didn’t feel like community to me. So we tried “connecting” and reached out to join a small group or something similar. Surely we would find some community that way, right? Well, we got an email that we would be “wait listed” because all small groups in our age group and life stage were full. I won’t go into the details of my reaction or why I wouldn’t mind joining a small group made up of any ages, life stages, etc. Why I, in fact, think it's important to diversify (especially in the church). Or why I’m looking for more than a cappuccino with my Sunday sermon. But it was a pretty clear sign to me to try again, but somewhere else. I remembered one (of many) phone conversation(s) I had with my dad about my frustrations of finding a new church and a community. And I remembered this quote he referred to – a quote from Eugene Peterson during an interview. Here it is: Question: “Eighty-one years is a long time. As you enter your final season of life, what would you like to say to younger Christians who are itchy for a deeper and more authentic discipleship? What’s your word to them?” Answer: “Go to the nearest smallest church and commit yourself to being there for 6 months. If it doesn’t work out, find somewhere else. But don’t look for programs, don’t look for entertainment, and don’t look for a great preacher. A Christian congregation is not a glamorous place, not a romantic place. That’s what I always told people. If people were leaving my congregation to go to another place of work, I’d say, “The smallest church, the closest church, and stay there for 6 months.” Sometimes it doesn’t work. Some pastors are just incompetent. And some are flat out bad. So I don’t think that’s the answer to everything, but it’s a better place to start than going to the one with all the programs, the glitz, all that stuff.” So I took and am still taking this to heart. In another effort to search for a church, I noticed one that I had not noticed before. This really stuck out to me because, I kid you not, I had studied the lists and lists of churches in Spokane for months. So we visited once, we visited twice, and now a third time. During the first week we already met the pastor, and the second and third weeks several people remembered our names and made us feel welcome. A simple somebody reaching out to you, remembering your name, and asking more about you can reach miles into someone and can make them feel known. By no means am I saying this small community of believers is perfect, nor is DF. But it reignited a flame of hope within me and created a desire to stay for 6 months and a desire to dig deeper with these people. Now back to the lesson on prayer. A couple of things stuck out to me when this speaker taught on prayer. First off, I realized how often I’m guilty of saying, “I’ll pray for you” or “I’ll pray about that” and then don’t. It’s easy to say you’ll pray, maybe even to end a conversation with someone or change the subject rather than talk through it or be a listening ear. But to take it seriously and to take the time to reflect and have a conversation with God presents a true challenge for me and I would be willing to bet for others too. One of my “resolutions” is to take prayer more seriously. Because without honest communication and time with God it’s not much of a relationship at all. Just like if I don’t communicate with Kevin or my friends, it’s not much of a marriage or friendships at all. And secondly, this speaker urged the importance of writing your thoughts (or prayers) out. Sometimes we have all of these thoughts, emotions, feelings, etc. jumbled in our brain. We don’t really know what they are unless we channel them somewhere, somehow. And that’s why I blog (or publicly journal), and that’s why I want to continue this “resolution” or challenge into the New Year. I believe it’s important to put thoughts to paper (or webpages) and to be honest with ourselves and with each other. Whether it’s confessions of personal struggles or a funny story about my day, I want to continue to write. And maybe some way, somehow it could touch another person and we can both feel comfort through each other but ultimately through Him.
0 Comments
|