The season for listening

We dare not tarry when God says “March.”
We dare not move forward when God says, “Wait.”
When we are not sure what God is saying, it is a time to listen.

Glen Echo Christian Church is in a season of transition where the task is to listen.

Pastoral transitions always seem to be a crisis, don’t they? Sudden ones are even more troubling. The flood of feelings which we feel may seem overwhelming at times.

It is a season where the task is to listen.

I am told that in the written Chinese language there are two symbols used to express the word crisis: 1. the symbol for danger and 2. the symbol for opportunity. When you think about it, isn’t that a powerful insight!

Who can know for certain the mind of God to see where Glen Echo is being invited in this crisis time? In some moments of the congregation’s grief, we fear the dangers. In other moments, our hearts open to new opportunities that will present themselves. Opportunities, which we might not have seen before, emerge over the horizon.

It is a season to listen.

I am optimistic about the church. It is a human organization filled with confessed and confessing sinners that God somehow is able to use to comfort, challenge, teach and transform us. God’s church really can bring out the best in us as we are called to love and forgive one another. In the church, a crisis is truly an opportunity to discover God’s presence among us.

We are in a season where God is calling us to listen.

I am grateful for the invitation to be with you in this transition time. It is an Interim time, for I will not be a candidate for your becoming your next settled pastor. Together in this season, however, God will place in the hearts of God’s people the seeds for great blessings. We can discover them, if we listen together.