Search for the Perfect Shoes

Jeff was on a search for the perfect shoes, the perfect pen, the perfect jacket and the perfect vest. He would buy what he thought was THE ONE, but then he would see another one, and another one. I would roll my eyes. I probably had something to say as well. Finally, he realized that something had to be done. Oh, he didn’t stop the search or the buying; he just made himself give one away when he bought a new one.

Once I had the whole closet to myself, I found I was buying more things than before. My search for the perfect shoes was not because I like shoes, but because I was looking for the ones that felt most like being barefoot. I have a number of failures in that department sitting in my closet. My chosen discipline for Lent this year was to put a halt to buying clothes and shoes, and I have kept to that fairly well since. Now I need to start sorting out and giving away.

We have a tendency in the life of the church to keep acquiring as well, especially ministries. Once we have taken on a project or a ministry, we seem to want to hang on to it forever even when there are other things we need to do. When Christ UMC and Crossman UMC merged to become Christ Crossman, each congregation brought a passion for mission and ministry, particularly what each had been doing already.

With the influx of funds from the interest on the capital proceeds from the sale of the Christ Church property and both parsonages, it was decided that a certain percentage would be used to fund new ministries. That was an admirable decision. Within a year after I arrived, it became apparent that while new ministries had been begun, nothing from before the merger was stopped. The active lay leadership was exhausted from trying to carry on what was new as well as what was continued. At the urging of the very people carrying out mission and ministry, we began a process of streamlining what we could do. It didn’t mean that what we had done was not worthy, or that the groups with whom we had worked did not deserve it, but the reality was (and is) that we did not have unlimited energy or time. Priorities had to be established. Not everyone was happy for sure.

This is an ongoing process. There has to be a continuing work of prioritizing where we are called to put our time and energy. We are a small enough congregation that we need to focus our attention. Again that doesn’t mean that projects are not worthy; it just may mean that now is not the time for us to be involved. The shoes that are littering my closet are not worthless, but they don’t work for me, and as long as they add to the clutter, I can’t see the floor clearly. What keeps us from seeing clearly?

Philippians 3:13-14

Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.