Dear Truro family,
It won’t come as a surprise that I’ve been thinking a lot about transitions and change. After all — there is an incredible amount of change happening both in our culture and in our church.
Change is hard. One of my old seminary professors used to always say that change is so hard because anytime there is change, there is loss. We have to re-imagine the future in a different way. If I can be perfectly honest, this current moment of change feels particularly difficult for me, because I don’t even know how to imagine a new future. It feels impossible to see, or know, or comprehend, and it feels like it is completely out of my control — which, of course, it is.
But then I think about the way that Jesus called his early disciples. No grand vision, no five year plan, no seven steps to a successful x, y, or z. In fact, he offered them no information at all. No insight into his strategy — just an invitation. No purpose-driven plan — just himself. And amazingly, that was enough. It was enough for fishermen to drop their net and to leave their loved ones and homes. There was something about Jesus that was so compelling that they didn’t need a plan, or a promise of a better future. They just needed him.
I desperately want to know what the coming years are going to look like. I want in on the plan. I want the missing information and the “why’s” filled in for me. It’s not that Jesus doesn’t have a plan — he does. He always has, and he always gets his way. It’s not that we shouldn’t have strategies — we should. But a plan is not what Jesus offers his disciples. It’s not what he offers us. No powerpoint or roadmap or executive summary of where he’s going or why. Instead, he says: “Come, and follow me. I will make you fishers of men” (Mark 1). Or he says: “Come and see” (John 1). Instead of offering his disciples a plan, he offers them (and us) himself. And he is teaching me that he is (and ought to be) enough.
Your brother and partner in Christ,
Mike+