Change; Like it or Not?

Photo by __ drz __ on Unsplash

Written by Rev. Jody Seymour, Pastor of Oak Grove United Methodist Church

So I like to go home the same route every time.  My wife would take a new way home every time.  I do not much like change but the reality is that I’ve been a Methodist minister for fifty-two years and have “gone where I am sent.” 

Seems those vows I took at the very beginning should have been in reverse order; “Do you believe in God?”  “Will you go where you are sent?”  The last one really comes first for a Methodist preacher.  So I do not like change?  “Build a bridge and get over it,” might be the sign just beside, “Bloom where you are planted,” for those who answer the call.

Resisting change is like wanting to hold back the tide.  You can try but your trying will be washed away with the effort.  All of us who are not so comfortable with change need to read “Hope for the Flowers.” In this wonderful book, Stripe is a caterpillar who is not willing to risk change while Yellow dares to take a chance and with a certain change ends up in an all new world. 

The lessons I remember from this simple yet dear book are, “Embrace change for it’s the only constant in life” and “Sometimes you have to let go of the life you planned, to live the life you were meant to have.”

I read recently that when Moses stood at the edge of the sea with Pharaoh’s chariots in pursuit, the disgruntled and fear filled newly freed slaves suddenly did not like their change in status and wanted to go back to their “old life.”  God told Moses to “be still” and then “move on.”

I have learned that “being still” is the secret to facing change.  If I get caught up in the white water rapids of oncoming change I fall victim to the anxiety of “what will the future hold.”

Those of us who have control issues often are uncomfortable with transitions and change.  My friends in the “12 Step” programs have taught me that real control is an illusion. 
 
To give up control does not mean to let go of the need to make plans and learn new things. But to hold tight to “what is” for fear of “what might be” is to miss out on what could be a “butterfly existence” rather than a careful-caterpillar type of safety.

In one of my past “consultations” with my bishop I resisted moving to a new church.  The reasons were not very religious nor did they reflect my vow of “I’ll go where I’m sent.”  My reasons were wrapped around being comfortable with what “was” and not wanting embrace a new challenge.

The bishop could have simply said, “I’m the bishop and you are not, so pack your bags,” but she gave me some room.  I thought I had her convinced that God’s will was for me to stay put.  I had told God that if it was really God’s will for me to follow a very popular minister that no one wanted to follow then I would go. But I made it clear to God that I thought the bishop could find someone else if it was just the Methodist need to make an appointment.

So when the bishop called back the third time and began her persuasive argument I interrupted her and said, “I’ll go.”  “What changed your mind” she responded.  “God did.  I mean this is the third time you called and I think God is trying to tell me something.”

What I did not say is that the truth was it was “my will” not God’s that was primary to me.  Remember I do not like change.  Not going to that new church would have been the biggest mistake of my life. Yes, it was very challenging but it was also most wonderful. “Sometime you have to let go of the life you planned, to live the life you were meant to have.”

As I was preparing to move I shared my sadness over leaving a place I loved with my spiritual director.  She gave me something that I have offered to many others facing change and transition.  It is from a rather obscure teaching in the parables of Andre Fikri. It is called “Following the Way.”

This is the lesson on following the WAY. Remember it... How do you follow the Way? Go where you are sent.  Wait until you are shown what to do. Do it with the whole self. Remain till you have done what you were sent to do. Walk away with empty hands. How much will it cost? The cost is everything, for all you are and all you have will be asked of you before the journey runs its course. How will you know your fellow travelers? Their faces will be marked by the scars of love.  No one will ever tell you that the Way is easy; only that it is possible. No one can tell you if the journey is worthwhile, for your wages are concealed in the hand of God and will be shown you only on the last day of eternity. But whoever chooses to follow the Way will have joyous company of God's beloved fools as fellow travelers and a resting place at journey's end in the Dwelling Place (my addition and change) of the Heart. This is the lesson on following the Way. Remember it. (M.R. Ritley, from a teaching parable of Andre Fikri's) 
 
Our United Methodist family has just undergone a radical time of change and transition.  I longed for the division we have experienced not to happen.  I preached a sermon asking whether we would be the “United” Methodist Church or the “Untied” Methodist Church.  The latter has happened.  We are experiencing change and a bit of trauma.
 
God is bigger than our change.  God will embrace the pain that comes with this kind of transition and offer those of us who are willing to change with the change an experience of needed resurrection and hope.

My dear wife taught me in a very real way the pain of “transition labor.”  May we now learn from the pain of change.  Maybe some things do not change…like “Open Minds, Open Hearts, Open Doors…the people of the United Methodist Church”  We are now a church on the journey of change seeking God’s continued Guidance which is a constant in a world of change.

I’ll close with words that have settled me in the midst of many changes:
                        “Change my heart O God, make it ever true
                        Change my heart O God, may I be like you”