Change

Written on the back of the worship leaflet for Sunday, January 16, 2011:

Change. The word that strikes fear into the hearts of so many of us, especially in the church. People will sometimes chuckle at jokes about how people in the church are resistant to change. I no longer find those jokes to be funny because I have found that people and churches and organizations who refuse to change are refusing to grow and live the abundant life that God calls us to. Adamant resistance to change is the hammer that nails us into our coffins of fear and sameness and death.

I no longer find “jokes” about change to be funny because my reading of Holy Scripture shows me that change and transformation are absolutely at the core of the message that Jesus preaches! The first followers of Jesus, whom we hear about in today’s reading from the Gospel of John, embrace change. The church was born, not in fear of change, but out of a full embrace of the transformation of lives!

Today is a day of huge change at St. Alban’s; we are offering a new weekly worship service here at 5:00 PM each and every Sunday. Today is the day when we refuse to laugh at jokes about our fear of change, as we give the gift of worship to more and more people in our city. Today is the day when we are transformed! Today, I love change!