For the last couple of weeks our two younger kids have been counting down the days. Waiting for today, June 1. At least for Milpitas, today means school’s out for summer! (I expect some are singing an Alice Cooper song in your heads right about now.) The last weeks of school mean the countdown is on for students and teachers alike. Summer means a break from the routine, opportunities for travel, fun in the sun, and much more time for relaxing, playing, and hanging out at home.
For our family we have been looking forward to the summer of 2017 for quite a while. This year, because it is the 500th anniversary of the start of the Lutheran Reformation, has been a target for us for at least seven years. We decided at least that long ago to take a trip to the birthplace of the Reformation this year. While we’d love to go in October to be there on the actual anniversary date, summer will be over by then and the kids will be back in school. So we are making the trip this summer and we are really excited.
Do you have things you’re looking forward to? Celebrations, achievements, new opportunities, travel… Anticipation is a powerful thing in our lives. It drives us forward. It motivates us to do things. It energizes us to prepare. It gives us endurance to make it through the times of waiting for what is to come.
As a church we have been in a process of looking forward for several months. Last month many of us gathered for a Town Hall meeting to talk about what the vision team had learned. We are looking forward to a future that seems different for the church. The world has changed and we are in the middle of a cultural shift. Technology and information are expanding so rapidly that it’s hard for anyone to keep up. Communication styles, social media, and relational changes mean that people today actually think differently. Younger people are especially different because they adapt so much more quickly to change.
What does that mean for the church? We are only beginning to envision the answer to that question. The conversation which began at the Town Hall meeting will continue in homes during these summer months. I hope to meet with a cross section of the Mount Olive community, gathered in homes or other places, to discuss the future of the church and to “Look Forward” together. Among the topics to consider is how to appropriately fill the staff vacancy to move into the future. What kind of skills will be needed?
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Psalm 32:8 (ESV)
I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you.
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Looking forward can create anxiety. Change sometimes seems scary. But as we look forward, we can be confident that the Spirit of God will be our guide. It is His church and His mission will be successful. Our endeavor is to be faithful to His leading, bold in our witness, and willing to venture into new places, programs, or strategies so that people can meet Jesus.
Looking Ahead with Confidence!
Pastor John