Have you ever noticed that sometimes the best way to understand the present and look to the future is to reflect on the past? All of us show up in the world and participate in a story that was underway well before we arrived. The past shapes us and our understanding of the world. As followers of Christ, we see the story of the world as it has gone on before us as marked first and foremost by the action and activity of God. We also can see that God is at work in the details of our lives and those of our family and church. He engages with us and meets us in our place in space and time.
Part of that space and time reality is the fact that the lives and choices of others mark us. Sometimes we try to act as if all that matters is our own choices in life, but the reality is that the character and choices of our parents and grandparents form a sort of context in which we find ourselves through no particular choice of our own. But, we do have a choice about what we carry with us from that context.
As Pastor Greg taught last week, we live in an ecotonic moment, a moment of great change and uncertainty, but also one of great opportunity. What will we choose to carry with us into the future as a church? Well, I'm not a pastor or an elected leader in the church, but I am going to be so bold as to make a few suggestions about that. This week, we'll look at our history as a body, not as a form of self-congratulation but as a form of honoring the God who is there and who is at work among us. And, in learning something about how He has worked among us, I hope we'll learn something about what we need to carry with us in the ecotonic moment.
Yours Faithfully,
John Lewis
Former Ministry Council Chair