Change Happens

Chuckle:  You don't need a parachute to skydive. You only need a parachute to skydive twice!!

    "This is the temple of the Lord . . . If you really change your ways and your actions and deal with each other justly, . . then I will let you live . . . in the land I gave your forefathers for ever and ever" (Jeremiah 7:5-7 NIV).

The following is by Rev. Beth Kennett -- A good read.

CHANGE IS...CHANGE! EVEN WHEN IT IS GOOD.  

     "It may be hard for an egg to turn into a bird: it would be a jolly sight harder for it to learn to fly while remaining an egg. We are like eggs at present. And you cannot go on indefinitely being just an ordinary, decent egg. We must be hatched or go bad."  --C. S. Lewis

Change is going on all around us, including us and in us! Change is necessary! If change does not happen, things go bad (rotten, defunct, awry, etc.). To follow with the thought from C. S. Lewis, the best-case scenario for an egg that doesn't hatch is to be eaten, to be devoured. When we think of ourselves and change, we do not want to be eaten, devoured, nor do we want to rot or become defunct. We definitely want to stretch wings and learn to fly.

There is a song that we often sing at our church, "Enter, Rejoice and Come In." One of the verses repeats the sentence, "Don't be afraid of some change." When my oldest daughter was rather young, about 3 years old, she came home from church after singing this song and asked, "Why would people be afraid of change?" I thought what a profound and deep thought 3 year old I have, only to realize that she thought the song was about coins/money. (Well, that is a thought for another blog!)

The question is appropriate, Why are people afraid of change? We can expand the question to, why are people afraid of change, even when it is good change?

When there is change, we do not always know the outcome. Even when the desired outcome is known, we do not know what will take place in our process to get there. We are afraid to do things differently. We are afraid to learn to do things differently. We are afraid that how we relate will be different and might not be as good. We are afraid that we will not like the outcome.

Change never affects only one person; when I change those around me experience change as well. The idea and fear that is wrapped up in change is compounded when a group or a system begins to change. Each person within the system carries her/his own anxiety and a corporate anxiety.

Currently, every faith community in America is experiencing change. Most are feeling a decline in members and resources. In the midst of this change, there is often an unwillingness to do anything different. If we keep doing what we have always done, things will be ok; they always were before.

The definition of change is to become or make different, pass from one state to another, substitute or replace something. Change is happening, is going to happen and needs to happen. We can stretch a bit, express our fears and concerns and discuss our desired outcomes and our wings will develop and we will be able to fly. Or, we can resist and experience that eggs cannot fly and we will rot or be devoured.

Change is happening. We can approach it with a positive and curious excitement, with a willingness to explore the possibilities and adapt in new ways; and through the process our wings will stretch and develop giving us the ability to soar.

Love, Jerry & Dotse