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As my mother dropped us off at the swimming pool that day, as she did on many summer days, she said something a little different than normal and a little out of place. Usually, she would say something along the lines of “Have fun, I will be here to pick you up at 4:30!” That day though she must have been in a cheeky mood so she said, “Have fun, I will be here to pick you up at 4:30! Don’t anyone hit your head on the bottom of the pool!” It was a noticeable enough change in her words that we were laughing about it as the Ferguson family and I checked into the pool for an afternoon of fun. I had no idea that this short little quip would have become so memorable so quickly.
Here’s why: a short time into our time there, I decided to jump off the diving board. So, I climbed out of the pool and started to head over to the deep end. But, on the way there I passed Steve Ferguson who was leaning up against the fence with a lifeguard attending to him and an ice pack on his head. I asked him what happened to him, and he told me a story about diving into the pool from the deck and scraping his head on the bottom of the pool. That had never happened to any of us before and we were at the pool almost every day during the summer. Why, on the one time my mom said something about hitting our heads, did one of us hit their head? Did she somehow know that would happen? Is it possible that she made it happen? It makes no sense.
As we make the transition into 2021, I am reflecting on the same sort of thing about last year. Our theme last year was building a resilient faith. I had no idea how badly our resilience would be tested that year. Would we have been able to survive the transition to digital church without resilience? At the start of the year, if someone had told you that in December, we could not hold worship services in our building, we could not gather for our Christmas potluck and talent show and that this would have been the case for the previous eight months, how would you have responded? Could you have imagined it? Would you have thought our church community would have been able to sustain that? Would you have thought that we would still be pushing through finding ways to be the church? Probably not, but we have!!
That is what resilience is! We had it in 2020 and, by seeing us put that resilience into practice, we built up a resilience that will continue as we go forward. More of that resilience will be needed in the new year. But just like I asked myself with my mom that day, I am asking if somehow we knew what we were going to face. I certainly won’t be as bold to say that this happened because we said that we needed resilience. But did we know that 2020 was going to be the kind of year where our faith would be tested? That the things that we would have said sustained us as a family of faith – community, worship, meals and service together – would be so drastically changed by the year end. We have seen that God continues to give us strength, joy, and community as we trust in God’s promises and presence. We have seen that God continues to move us forward in our discipleship and as a church family.
This makes me wonder about what is in store for us in 2021! Our theme for 2021 is keeping in step with the Spirit! If we are calling our attention to that idea, does it mean that the Spirit is going to be moving in some powerful ways this year? Does it mean that if we don’t concentrate on keeping up, keeping in step with the Spirit, we will miss out on what God is trying to do with us? I get excited when I think about that! I get excited trying to imagine what will happen when we trust the Holy Spirit to take us to new places! Can you join me in that excitement?!
The Covenant church has always been a Spirit centered church. One of our six core affirmation declares that we believe in a conscious dependence on the Holy Spirit. John Wenrich, the president of the denomination, likes to refer to the Spirit as the “blazing center of our church.” So, we join with our fellow ECC churches in leaning into that this year and imagining what God will do if we can keep in step with that Spirit. The description of the affirmation of our dependence on the Holy Spirit says, “The Covenant Church believes that the Spirt of God is active and “blows where it chooses” (John 3:8). The Spirit is the prevenient actor in the drama of salvation, the creator of hunger for Christ’s life, and the fulfiller of that hunger. We are often surprised at the unfolding of God’s purpose, suggesting that our ways and thoughts are not always the ways and thoughts of God. For this reason, Covenanters desire to cultivate a healthy humility before God open to the leading of the Holy Spirt. When God is about doing a new thing, we wish to perceive God at work rather than be found dull to the divine purpose. We wish to see with the eyes of the Spirit, and not merely with our own.”
That to me is exciting as we get ready to keep in step with that Spirit and we imagine where this year will take us. Salvation, hunger for God, and fulfillment of that hunger. Sounds great to me. We will be surprised at what unfolds when we follow God, and we discover God’s purpose for our life, church, and ministry. The Holy Spirit will continue to lead us into ministry, into community and into God’s presence. We don’t know where God will take us in 2021, but I am ready and excited to do my best to keep us in step with the Spirit. Are your ready to do your part? Let’s keep in step so that we can keep up with all that God’s wants to do at GTCC.
