Dear Friends,
Where’s the coffee? No, seriously, where is the coffee? My night owl self is not used to these early mornings. My day begins at 5:45 am now that school is back in session. Now, I know many of you probably get up around that time every day, but most of you probably don’t go to bed till 2 am like I do. Every one tells me to go to bed earlier. I have tried, and most of the time I can make it to bed about midnight. When I was teaching full time, my wake up times ranged between 5-6 am. I functioned and made it work, but my body’s natural rhythm wants to sleep between 2-3 am and 9 am. Or maybe just old habits die hard.
Habits are hard to break sometimes, aren’t they? And these habits are not just in our personal lives, but they can be in our work lives, church lives, marriages, parenting, etc. Notice I have not specified if these are good or bad habits. I didn’t put a qualifier on them (other than old). Bad habits need to be broken and replaced with good habits. However, even good habits, things done with the best of intentions and good hearts, need to be changed every so often. They are not bad, but they are not accomplishing your goal either.
Let’s just look at church for a minute. Do you go to a church where everyone contributes? Awesome, if you do! You are blessed to be in a “people” church where the people do the work, not just the ministers. There is true team effort.
Or do you go to a church and only the clergy or a handful of people do the work? And often in those churches, it is the same group of people. There are many reasons that people get stuck always doing the work. One would think this only happens in smaller churches, but it can happen in any size church: a few leading the many. I will confess that I once purposely attended a megachurch so that I could get lost in the crowd and not be expected to do anything. I had been burnt out from previous ministry endeavors and needed a break. Yet, even there, I found myself in a teaching/leading role. It was a minor role, but nonetheless, a leadership role. Honestly, these are two of the reasons many people are drawn to larger churches: little demands placed upon them and getting to remain anonymous in the crowd.
Another reason that large churches are so appealing is that there are so many “opportunities” and things to do. However, the “opportunities” in a small church are overlooked or missed. A small church offers the chance for close, authentic relationships where the church really does function as extended family. A small church offers the chance for creative, out-of-the box thinking on how to do ministry with limited budgets, people, and other resources. This particular reason is what attracts me to small churches. There are challenges to solve, like a puzzle, and many chances to for creativity, not just doing something because that is how it has always been done. This is especially true in a church just starting out brand new. There is a chance to meet real needs directly and to be intentional about it, especially since you have to prioritize your resources. It takes thinking, organization, and purposeful planning.
All churches have their natural rhythms and both good and bad habits. All churches, regardless of size, need to be intentional about their habits. All members of those churches need to be intentional about their habits. On a personal level, members are to be engaged in spiritual habits called spiritual disciplines. This month the Habits of the Mind book club will be reading a book about spiritual disciplines. The book is Invitation to a Journey: A Road Map for Spiritual Formation by M. Robert Mulholland, Jr. Come join the conversation and learn how you can develop your spiritual habits with purpose behind them.
Invitation to a journey…I love that title. This Christian life is a journey. We invite you to share your journey with us at Agnus Dei LOC. But more importantly, we invite you to join us on our journey following Christ and living life together under Christ. As church members and as a church body, we need to be thinking and evaluating our spiritual practices and habits. Are they accomplishing our mission, or are there habits and practices that would be better? Sometimes things are great for a season but need to change as people or churches grow. Change is hard, even when you know you are choosing the better option. We are creatures of habit. The important things are to have a willing spirit and to be intentional about those habits.
Speaking of habits, now, I really am off to find the coffee…
Until next we meet,
Pastor Jessi
Where’s the coffee? No, seriously, where is the coffee? My night owl self is not used to these early mornings. My day begins at 5:45 am now that school is back in session. Now, I know many of you probably get up around that time every day, but most of you probably don’t go to bed till 2 am like I do. Every one tells me to go to bed earlier. I have tried, and most of the time I can make it to bed about midnight. When I was teaching full time, my wake up times ranged between 5-6 am. I functioned and made it work, but my body’s natural rhythm wants to sleep between 2-3 am and 9 am. Or maybe just old habits die hard.
Habits are hard to break sometimes, aren’t they? And these habits are not just in our personal lives, but they can be in our work lives, church lives, marriages, parenting, etc. Notice I have not specified if these are good or bad habits. I didn’t put a qualifier on them (other than old). Bad habits need to be broken and replaced with good habits. However, even good habits, things done with the best of intentions and good hearts, need to be changed every so often. They are not bad, but they are not accomplishing your goal either.
Let’s just look at church for a minute. Do you go to a church where everyone contributes? Awesome, if you do! You are blessed to be in a “people” church where the people do the work, not just the ministers. There is true team effort.
Or do you go to a church and only the clergy or a handful of people do the work? And often in those churches, it is the same group of people. There are many reasons that people get stuck always doing the work. One would think this only happens in smaller churches, but it can happen in any size church: a few leading the many. I will confess that I once purposely attended a megachurch so that I could get lost in the crowd and not be expected to do anything. I had been burnt out from previous ministry endeavors and needed a break. Yet, even there, I found myself in a teaching/leading role. It was a minor role, but nonetheless, a leadership role. Honestly, these are two of the reasons many people are drawn to larger churches: little demands placed upon them and getting to remain anonymous in the crowd.
Another reason that large churches are so appealing is that there are so many “opportunities” and things to do. However, the “opportunities” in a small church are overlooked or missed. A small church offers the chance for close, authentic relationships where the church really does function as extended family. A small church offers the chance for creative, out-of-the box thinking on how to do ministry with limited budgets, people, and other resources. This particular reason is what attracts me to small churches. There are challenges to solve, like a puzzle, and many chances to for creativity, not just doing something because that is how it has always been done. This is especially true in a church just starting out brand new. There is a chance to meet real needs directly and to be intentional about it, especially since you have to prioritize your resources. It takes thinking, organization, and purposeful planning.
All churches have their natural rhythms and both good and bad habits. All churches, regardless of size, need to be intentional about their habits. All members of those churches need to be intentional about their habits. On a personal level, members are to be engaged in spiritual habits called spiritual disciplines. This month the Habits of the Mind book club will be reading a book about spiritual disciplines. The book is Invitation to a Journey: A Road Map for Spiritual Formation by M. Robert Mulholland, Jr. Come join the conversation and learn how you can develop your spiritual habits with purpose behind them.
Invitation to a journey…I love that title. This Christian life is a journey. We invite you to share your journey with us at Agnus Dei LOC. But more importantly, we invite you to join us on our journey following Christ and living life together under Christ. As church members and as a church body, we need to be thinking and evaluating our spiritual practices and habits. Are they accomplishing our mission, or are there habits and practices that would be better? Sometimes things are great for a season but need to change as people or churches grow. Change is hard, even when you know you are choosing the better option. We are creatures of habit. The important things are to have a willing spirit and to be intentional about those habits.
Speaking of habits, now, I really am off to find the coffee…
Until next we meet,
Pastor Jessi
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