I've been thinking...

I’ve been thinking…almost every time I start writing, I type this phrase. I generally edit my piece and find a better way to start. The truth is, though, I have been thinking a lot lately. We can blame a little part of it on all the reading I have been doing lately for my classes that start next Tuesday, but not entirely.

I look at Christ Crossman and I see how vital a congregation we are. The life of the church is evident. We have vibrant music to lead us in worship. We have awesome children and youth in our midst. I love Communion all the time, but especially on first Sundays when the children come in to receive! We have a garden out front. We are involved in serving those in need. We are working towards a project with the city for the lot next door.

I see all this and I am in awe. We’ve taken many amazing steps to turn our community of faith around. And yet, I’ve been thinking and wondering about how are we to become truly sustainable. We have taken amazing steps already, and yet we seem to have taken a sigh of relief and paused. What is going to draw us to step out of the boat in faith? Peter stepped out of the boat, paused, and then began to sink. We certainly don’t want to emulate Peter at that point and sink as well. We want to move with faith on the water as well as the land.

The pause is natural in many ways. We worked hard and needed to take a cleansing breath. And now is the time to see what our next step(s) will be. We are going to be having some open and honest conversations about this in the coming months. As we ask honest and open questions, it means we don’t already know the answers to those questions but that we trust in the resurrecting power of God’s Spirit which raised Jesus from the tomb to move towards the answers.

I’ve been thinking, and I’ve been praying. Will you join me?

Matthew 14:28-30

Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat, started walking on the water, and came toward Jesus. But when he noticed the strong wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!”