DANGEROUS GROUND

It's my sense that as a society we are moving through dangerous ground.  Part of that sense of danger comes from my instinctive fear of change - most humans, given the choice, will stick with the status quo rather than select for something that is unknown.  The other component of my sense of danger is the complexity that we will confront, as we navigate our way through the challenges we face.  Some of those challenges we know about; others will confront us with little warning, and others are purely in our imagination.

In case you think I'm referring to politics - you are correct - partly.  There's lots of danger in the political environment: internationally, nationally, provincially.  I don't want to focus on politics though.  It's not that I don't think politics and church don't mix; life itself is political, in that we have to make choices collectively and as individuals, to decide how we are going to live our lives together.  Those choices all have political elements.

The single common theme that makes me sensitive to danger is the tendency of leaders to set price as the predominant factor influencing decisions on how best to move forward.  Money, price, cost, expense...however you want to frame it, seems to have taken first place in the mindset of many.  I think that is a shallow, short-sighted approach to dealing with change.  Poet and author Oscar Wilde cautioned us to beware of persons "who know the price of everything and the value of nothing."

True as this is in politics and governance, it is also critical for our life together as a faith community.  We are going through significant change and, as we attempt to discern what we want to be and how we want to act, I'm hopeful that we will not fall into the trap of confusing price with value.  As a church, we do many things because they are the right thing to do...even if they come at a cost.  We are not a business or a commercial endeavour; we are a Christian community of faith.  Financial resources are important, but they ought not to be the primary determinant of what we could be and how we might do it.

As we travel this precarious section of our journey on the Way, let's remember the encouragement of another great writer, Paul the Apostle, who wrote, "Let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season, we will reap, if we do not give up." (Galatians 6-9)

Blessings and peace to all.

Pat

Take This Thought Away With You

"No leader can see the end from the beginning,

no matter how strategic the plan.  Try leadership by 'unfolding', pay attention

 to our own inner truth, and the gifts of insight they offer,

taking us places the five-year plan could not have imagined."

~ Carla M. Dahl, Bethel Seminary, Minnesota ~