It is amazing how things have changed in ten years. Paper is out and paying our bills online is in. The SUV is out and the environment is in. Processing film is out, digital photography is in. Facebook has helped us renew old high school relationships. Skype lets us talk face to face around the world. Our houses are harder to sell and first time buyers have a harder time getting credit. We learned words such as "unfriend" and "google" and re-learned words such as "terrorism" and "war".
Sitting on the back porch this morning, I am feeling a moment of deja vu. Forgive my nostalgia. It was on a beautiful June morning, much like today, when the moving truck pulled up to Curtis Road to unload our belongings in this quiet neighborhood on the southwest side of Champaign. I was 24 and had been married four years at that point and expecting our first child any moment. I was less than a month removed from seminary and had brought with me three years experience as a pastor; experience and education in a traditional model of worship and ministry. Here I was appointed to Champaign Faith and charged with the responsibility of growing a contemporary worship service in a church (unlike my home church or previous parishes) ready to be on the move in structure, ideology, and theology.
Ten years later...Curtis road is no longer a quiet, rural place, but a busy four lane road with an interstate exchange and commercial development sprouting up around us. (Thank goodness for the state of tranquility on my back porch!). I am now 34, been married fourteen years and have two very interesting sons and an insecure St. Bernard that follows me around the house. Passionate worship has found me as, despite the venue or context of worship, we have felt a deeper connection with God through diving into scripture and functioning in the early church tradition (Acts 2). Been to Juarez (the deadliest city in the world) 15 times and have built 15 houses, among other projects. We built a huge addition on the building and have seen the fullness of the theological spectrum come together as one community. And now by the grace of God, the willingness of Faith UMC and the vision of the cabinet, I will be starting my eleventh year at Faith UMC on July 1.
But yet, have I changed?
I have been leading the congregation in a worship series on the seven letters to the seven church in the book of Revelation. In each of those letters, Jesus (according to the author) is perhaps asking each of the churches to do a little self reflection. If Revelation was written by an exiled "John" in the late 90's C.E. to churches formed around 40 years prior, perhaps the timing is excellent. In that 40 years they would have heard of the Apostle's death, seen the fall of Jerusalem, and know of the growth of Christianity through the Diaspora to the further reaches of the continent. The particular rebukes that Jesus emphasized with each church seem to both draw them back to their foundation while also kicking them forward by casting vision for these churches in Asia minor.
I have been told that I have changed, but that has been said to me in vain. Perhaps that is what Jesus is saying to the churches, you have changed, by getting away from your first love and foundation.
Perhaps I need to do some self reflection and asked if I have grown (yes, i have gained weight). Has the church grown? Have we build upon the spiritual foundations of who we are? Have I grown deeper in love with Jesus Christ, our first love? Have we allowed God to use us in ways that transform the world? Have the hardships of injury, loss, and brokenness, helped me to grow in my understanding of faith in community? Has the changing of the world helped Faith UMC to grow in ways that reach new people?
It is good to be back with you (online) and in your community.
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