stumps and fresh starts

Tuesday February 9th, Isaiah 6: 12 until the LORD has sent everyone far away and the land is utterly forsaken. 13 And though a tenth remains in the land, it will again be laid waste. But as the terebinth and oak leave stumps when they are cut down, so the holy seed will be the stump in the land." Sometimes when you leave a stump in the ground and give it time, a new sprout appears. Not just sometimes, but often, when God wants us to do something, the first thing that needs to happen is to unlearn all the ways “we” think it should be done. Is our current style of church the best way to do church? Do we have to meet on Sunday morning, or even Sunday? Do we have to follow the lectionary? Do we have to sing, and or hear music, and or have a worship leader, or meet in a building, use bulletins or not use bulletins, etc? All those things that occupy “church” are really up for grabs. If you don’t throw a monkey wrench into once in a while, it simply becomes a club where people gather to do what they always do so they can feel good that they have done it. Perhaps sometimes you need to chop down the tree to allow the Gospel to grow fresh and new. Perhaps the decline in denominational attendance has more to do with God’s calling us to do something differently than our guilt of doing what we are doing poorly. And perhaps not! There are two ways to find out and they go hand in hand, prayer and conversation. If your institution if falling over, perhaps it is not a bad sign, just a new calling.