Patience

Our church is going through a transition right now. And, as you know, change is not an easy concept to embrace.

Our pastors recently resigned and now our congregation has entered a period of uncertainty. First we will have a short-term interim pastor and then a longer-term interim. This period will last well into next year, I suspect.

In the Presbyterian church, not only is change sometimes painful…it also goes painfully slow! The search, however, is done with process and precision. After all, you want to make sure you get the right person once he/she is ‘called.’ So, I am fully on board with that.

That doesn’t mean it’s easy.

Yesterday, the Rev. Judd Shaw – our General Presbyter for the Presbytery of East Tennessee (and coincidentally the man who was, for many years, our senior pastor) was our guest preacher and he was basically there to comfort anyone who was feeling uneasy.

“Try the P’s,” he said to us – playing on a childhood story. (“Try the peas.”). In this case, however, he adds, the ‘P’s’ refer to patience, persistence and perseverance.

It was a good message for us, delivered by a dear friend and it was very timely. It is also an idea that could and should be applied beyond the walls of the sanctuary.

In the modern era, we tend to want things now (or 10 seconds ago). High speed internet. 30 minute oil change. Fast food. I often wonder how our teachers succeed in capturing – and holding – the attention of our young students these days when they are so used to rapid fire text messages, tweets and constant IM’ing via Facebook. I rather imagine there has to be some element of entertaining involved in the modern classroom.

We want fast solutions to our problems. I told you about our bats last week. I want the bats to be gone. The ‘bat man’ promised us he would come on Thursday and then Friday and he never came. He didn’t come on Monday either. Meanwhile, the bats persist. I want them to move on. I want to clean up the mess. I want to be bat-free. 

I also want fixes to other situations in my life. We all want that. It is part of how we are conditioned these days.

Like Veruca says in Willy Wonka, “I want it now.”

We can’t always have that, though. So, maybe my little lesson about the bats – and the sermon from yesterday’s pulpit – can apply to us all.

Patience. Persistence. Perseverance.

JG  

(Source: fpctn.org)

Originally posted 5/7/2012