At a recent Eldership Meeting, the question was asked about whether, as the years pass, we Christians tend to lose the sense of excitement and exuberance that we might experience at the time of our conversion, and relax into matter-of-fact Christianity.
My first thought was that our conversion experience differs, sometimes quite significantly. For example, for some people, (e.g. those brought up in a Christian home) conversion is often-enough a fairly “quiet” experience. There is really no dramatic experience of life change and life goes on more-or-less as normal, and there may not be a strong sense of excitement or exuberance. For others, however, conversion is a dramatic, life-style-changing experience. Their life is transmogrified from experiencing the deep darkness of sin to experiencing the light of salvation in Christ. So, for them, there follows a strong sense of excitement and exuberance at the dramatic change that they have experienced. Personally, with my broken-home background and some of the implications of that on where I was heading in life, my conversion brought significant change, but I don’t recall expressing strong exuberance as I sought to understand my new-found faith and express it in worship and in service.
My second thought was to look back on my Christian pilgrimage and experience, in this particular context. A couple of things emerged from this process.
(i) First, in the context of my Christian faith, the older I’ve got the more questions I seem to have, although I’ve found the answer to many other questions that I’ve asked down through the years. At my present stage of life I’ve got many more questions, and there are many more things I don’t understand, even about the whole theology of faith, than when I was 28, or 38, or 48, or………..!
(ii) Second, I’m conscious of the more difficult and, in some cases, bruising experiences that have come my way. For example, even in my Christian employment, there have been some quite-hurtful things done to me (and to Sylvia) by people who should have known better. Whilst we’ve “weathered”, and come through, these experiences, they have left their mark, what I might term a “bruising of the heart”. The impact of these things does tend to dull any sense of excitement and exuberance, at least for a time, and does tend to have a progressively- dulling impact on your outlook.
The negative “side of the coin”, as I reflect on the above (and other) aspects of my Christian pilgrimage, is that they tend to create some sense of pensiveness, as you continue to try to faithfully live out the Christian life. There is a positive side to this “coin”, however. Firstly, you realize that the experiencing of these difficult and, in some cases, hurtful circumstances, and your response to them, is part of that testing and faith-building which is a life-long process. Secondly, the fact that, in life, you seem to experience a never-ending series of questions about things, and your faith theology in particular, actually deepens the degree of faith which is necessary if you are to “hold fast”, as you continue to walk the pathway of faith, in response to God’s call upon your life.
Perhaps the line in the hymn “ I Serve a Risen Saviour” helps sum it all up: “….And though my heart grows weary, I never will despair……..”.
Brian Good (31/5/12)
Thursday, 14 June 2012
Friday, 24 February 2012
Nothing is constant except change (February 2012)
It was, I think, the Greek Philosopher Paraclitis who coined the phrase that “nothing is constant except change”. As Christians we would, of course, add “…and God”. We don’t have to reflect for too long, on our individual lives, to realize that this principle applies to each of us. Occasionally the rate of change can be quite dramatic. But, usually, it’s incremental and we have to stop and look back to realize just how much our lives and circumstances have changed.
The other day I was reflecting on the extent to which the principle of change has applied at New Peninsula. It’s as recent as 2006 that Mornington (MBC) and Southern Peninsula Baptist Churches voted to unite….and we became New Peninsula. Six years before that, in 2000, MBC experienced a major change when we moved from a fairly traditional worship centre-hall-manse property, in a suburban location, to a large factory-type building on 18 acres of Craigie Road land. At the Church Meeting which resolved to tender for the Craigie Road property someone asked why we wanted to move out into the country, away from a suburban location. One of the foundation members of MBC (probably Doug Butler) advised that, when the Church was considering buying the block of land in Moomba Street, years before, someone asked the same question!
It’s interesting to reflect on the operation of MBC in the days following the relocation. Because of the administrative load at the time, the-then Diaconate (now the Church Board (CB)) met on a weekly basis. Now the CB meets on a quarterly basis, with the day-to-day administration/management looked after by the Management Executive, a primarily-staff group. David Coyle is the only current Deacon who was a serving Deacon in those days, although he had a spell off the Diaconate in the intervening years. In the early days of Dale Stephenson’s pastorate, the Eldership was a group of three Elders – Darryl Wise, Ian Gilmour and yours truly, which met with Dale each month. Very informal. No agenda. No minutes. Just a group to support and advise Dale - a “far cry” from the 14 Elders now playing a significant shepherding role in the life of New Peninsula. Another very significant change, of course, was the completion of Pastor Dale’s pastoral ministry amongst us and the calling of Duncan to be our Senior Pastor.
Whilst our primary focus, in life, should be on the future, it’s a good thing, from time to time, to look back and reflect on the changes that have taken place and the good that has, generally, resulted from those changes.
Every blessing. And shalom!
Brian
The other day I was reflecting on the extent to which the principle of change has applied at New Peninsula. It’s as recent as 2006 that Mornington (MBC) and Southern Peninsula Baptist Churches voted to unite….and we became New Peninsula. Six years before that, in 2000, MBC experienced a major change when we moved from a fairly traditional worship centre-hall-manse property, in a suburban location, to a large factory-type building on 18 acres of Craigie Road land. At the Church Meeting which resolved to tender for the Craigie Road property someone asked why we wanted to move out into the country, away from a suburban location. One of the foundation members of MBC (probably Doug Butler) advised that, when the Church was considering buying the block of land in Moomba Street, years before, someone asked the same question!
It’s interesting to reflect on the operation of MBC in the days following the relocation. Because of the administrative load at the time, the-then Diaconate (now the Church Board (CB)) met on a weekly basis. Now the CB meets on a quarterly basis, with the day-to-day administration/management looked after by the Management Executive, a primarily-staff group. David Coyle is the only current Deacon who was a serving Deacon in those days, although he had a spell off the Diaconate in the intervening years. In the early days of Dale Stephenson’s pastorate, the Eldership was a group of three Elders – Darryl Wise, Ian Gilmour and yours truly, which met with Dale each month. Very informal. No agenda. No minutes. Just a group to support and advise Dale - a “far cry” from the 14 Elders now playing a significant shepherding role in the life of New Peninsula. Another very significant change, of course, was the completion of Pastor Dale’s pastoral ministry amongst us and the calling of Duncan to be our Senior Pastor.
Whilst our primary focus, in life, should be on the future, it’s a good thing, from time to time, to look back and reflect on the changes that have taken place and the good that has, generally, resulted from those changes.
Every blessing. And shalom!
Brian
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