I’m going to do some hiking and catch a Braves game with some very-long-time friends this weekend! It will be awesome to see them and to laugh in the way only they can make me laugh. When we first see each other, it will be like we’re all in our teens and twenties again. When we start hiking, our physical changes since last year will become more pronounced. When we talk around the campfire, the life changes we’ve endured since last together will creep out in conversation. Then someone will say something hilariously stupid and we’ll howl like madmen. But the changes have been noted.
Our church family has experienced many changes over the last 22 years (some sought-after and some decidedly not), but there have been far more constants than changes. And the “constants” should not be forgotten or taken for granted.
“Wait!,” you might think, “More constants than changes? No way. The church is people, and most of the people who at one time or another have been part of The Vine are no longer among us, so the changes outweigh the constants.” Well, that is partly true. None of us will be among us forever. But maybe the following questions point to a bigger answer…
Is it still our collective hearts’ desire to:
- Follow Jesus in such a way that our lives grow fearless in love for God and people?
- Carry faith for one another when anyone among us is struggling?
- Be a community that is shaped by deep values of belonging, compassion, creativity, gratitude, joy, love, rest, servanthood, stewardship, witness, wonder, and worship?
- Always move toward a vision of being, by the power of the Holy Spirit, a community known for highly engaging worship, sound biblical teaching for all ages, outreach-driven ministries, and loving hospitality – with each member playing a role in fulfilling God’s desire to welcome everyone into the life-changing good news of Jesus Christ?
- To do these things along whatever path our good Shepherd leads us?
- These things, longings really, have always been at the heart of who we are as a church. These are our constants. They are Important. And I believe they always will be – even as we ourselves are no longer “among” us, for as long as the Lord may tarry.
The constants my friends and I will take out and polish up are decades-old (and new) stories of times together, remembering them like yesterday. We will speak again, and sheepishly so, of our hopes and fears as we look into each other’s increasingly wrinkle-changed faces. As ever before and again, we’ll encourage each other in the Lord. And as the fire dies down, we’ll grow tender with love and the aching wish that we could see it all made new.
Then someone will say something hilariously stupid and we’ll howl like madmen.
Indeed, some things never change.
All shall be well,
Owen
Photo by Austin Ban on Unsplash