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September 2004
Beginning at a Different Place
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September 2004
Beginning at a Different Place
An ancient philosopher once said you could never step into the same stream twice. Clearly, in a flowing stream the water has changed. What is the same to us is not really brought about by the same water. Yet, stepping into a stream we experience the same feeling of cool and wet on our feet.
September is like that for me. The experience is much the same year to year but it is always a different September. I like September. It is an in-between time. Summer is ending yet there are warm days. Winter is coming so there are cool nights.
School is beginning, so that means a new teacher, a different room and a new grade; it also means for teachers and administrators a new student body. Yet, for all those returning students, teachers and administrators the feel is much the same year to year. Excitement, anxiety, anticipation and just plain hard work are some of those usual emotional expressions. It is a new year but it has a very familiar feel to it. The philosopher was right; this is not really the same.
Each September serves as a reminder to me that life is dynamic rather than static, fluid rather than solid. Perhaps the best way to describe my thought is to say we are facing a beginning at a different place. I know this happens all the time but September makes it clearer to me. (Don't ask me why, just go along with me on this one!) Familiar experiences do not mean the exact same experience.
September is when we begin to take with more seriousness the need to prayerfully plan next year's ministry initiatives. That means looking for leadership from among the membership to head up the work of committees: It means committees will look ahead for ways to build upon the work we have been doing. We've been through all this before, yet I tell you it is different. What is familiar to us is not a repeat of what has gone before--it is different!
It helps to remember that we are beginning at a different place. It is important to understand that this year is different from last year and all the previous years. We are not the same people, the same congregation; nor is our community the same. We are all truly in a different place. This is September with warm days and cool nights: We are transitioning, a people on the way even if the scenery is familiar.
What a great place to be! We are not bound to the past, yet we are not without a past. What once appeared to be our future is not by necessity what must be! This year we are beginning at a different place.
Thank God for what has been and what by grace might yet be!
Grace and peace,
David