Reflections on 25 Years of Ordained Ministry in 25 Points

In March of this year I celebrated 25 years of Ordained Ministry, and 25 years of ministry at Christ Lutheran Church in Regina, Saskatchewan. The staff and congregation at Christ Lutheran held some lovely surprise 25th Anniversary celebrations and gifted me with many lovely words of support and gratitude as well as with a Celtic Pectoral Cross (pictured above). 
 

In some ways it is difficult to believe that it has been 25 years since I began my work as a pastor at Christ Lutheran Church, in other ways I certainly recognize the passage of time. It is rare for a pastor to serve in the same place for 25 years, but I have been blessed to be part of a healthy and diverse pastoral team (thank you Orville Kaminski, Bob Leeson, Carla Blakley and Lynn Robertson), while working for a caring, accepting and creative congregation (thank you to the many wonderful members of Christ Lutheran Church). 

One way I thought I would mark this milestone is to write out 25 reflections about ministry - how it has changed, how it remains the same, and what the future might hold. In the coming weeks I will be posting these reflections, one at a time. Here is the first one:

Reflection #1: Change is inevitable, change is needed, change is uncomfortable.

We live in a climate of constant change, primarily in the area of science and technology, but also in terms of culture. By its nature the church resists change, as it looks to hold on to the revealed word of God that is centuries old. However we have often made the mistake of assuming that our particular way of interpreting that ancient revealed gospel is what needs to be maintained. Most of the struggles in the church over the past 25 years (and certainly before that as well) have been based in how we interpret and respond to the message of the scriptures. This remains an on-going challenge and struggle to this day.
 

In reflecting on my own life I would say I began my adult life with a more traditional and somewhat literal interpretation framework. In the intervening years that approach has given way to something more content with mystery and symbolic interpretation. This I don't see as change so much as transformation, I prefer to think that God's Spirit is continually working in lives of people to move us closer to God's will for us. Since the Spirit of God is constantly at work transforming the lives of people, transformation is to be expected, or to put it another way - change is at the very heart of our Christian faith.
 

Sometimes I wish things would stay the same, or even revert back to the way they were at an earlier time. However I would also say at the same time that there are some things that I would not want to ever return to, some changes I am deeply grateful for having taken place. This is the tension that marks the life of the church, even since the earliest decades (when Paul insisted that Gentile Christians be accepted into the family of faith without requiring submission to the Judaic Law - a huge change if there ever was one.)
 

Perhaps it is the sense that change is happening so fast that causes the most discontent these days, but even that is relevant - my guess is that people thought the world was changing rapidly during the Reformation as well. Yes our technological tools seem to be replaced with new stuff every time we turn around - but people are not changing so quickly. Rapid change is somewhat illusionary in this regard.

Change will come, it is inevitable - without change we bog down in stagnation, we slowly die. Change is the very nature of life, and while it is not always comfortable it should not be feared or shunned. The Holy Spirit blows where it wills, the winds of change are ever present just as God is ever present. Our hope then is not in being in control "because we've dealt with this before", but that God's love is able to withstand any change that may come our way. Our confidence then is not in our ability to resist change, but in knowing that God's love will endure forever. Our future is not dependent on our holding on to the present (or past), but in embracing the unseen journey that God calls us to.