Spirit’s Nudge
Psalm 107:29, “God stilled the storm to a whisper…”
Driving through a storm is an interesting experience. I’ve been either riding or driving through snowstorms my entire life. The lake effect snows from Lake Erie could bury a car in a matter of minutes and the frozen slush storms of Connecticut flips cars like ladybugs on a windowsill. The difference between the east coast storms and those here in the wild west is the solitude of being the only car on the road for long stretches of time and knowing that the nearest “neighbor” should one be needed is a very long, cold walk.
Churches across America have been driving through the storm of this pandemic far longer than any of us ever thought we would, and the journey has been one wild ride. We went from being buried in a shut-down to being flipped on our tops with technology. What we did not experience, however, was driving through this storm alone. We have had tremendous prayer and hope throughout this journey. And now, we are on the other side of the storm. The clouds are parting, and we are able to see the road ahead. What we must now do is share that clear vision with the rest of the community. The difference between snowstorms and this pandemic storm is that once the snow and slush were cleared, our road looked very, very different. Where there were intersections there are now round-a-bouts. Where there were Y’s in the road there are now dead ends. The landscape under the snow and slush has completely changed.
This is where goal setting for our church comes in. The foundation of our faith remains the same however the next steps of re-building have yet to be determined. When our church meets for our annual January meeting on January 16, we will work together to determine our goals for 2022 that will move our church forward. The most important thing to keep in mind in setting these goals is to make them attainable. If I had any doubt that I would be able to return safely to Red Loge on January 4, I would never have set out in a Colorado snowstorm. But I checked the radar, checked with highway patrol, and set my benchmarks for travel – all attainable. We will do the same thing when we set our goals on January 16.
The two guiding questions for our goal setting will be, first, what should we do and second, what can we do. Our “shoulds” and our “cans” might be very different. If they are, we will back up and see if the “should” is attainable; not unlike re-routing in a storm when a canyon is impassible. I invite you to take the next week and seriously pray about these goals. Begin your prayer with, “Lord, I think we should…” and then ask, “Lord, show me how I can help this happen.” These will be our guiding prayers throughout the next year. Together we will find our way through this new post-pandemic storm landscape.
Peace,
Pastor Pam