The Weather's Changing

Dear warming Christians:

“Instead, put on the Lord Jesus Christ.” Romans 13:14a

   The weather is turning colder and so we adjust accordingly. When it is 85 degrees we can wear light clothes, open windows and wear flip-flops. But now it is freezing and the north winds are blowing, so we put away those shorts and get out the sweaters and jackets. We start finding that we need our hats and gloves more and more to keep the warm blood flowing. We get the furnace checked and we light the gas flames, stock the woodpile, and turn up the thermostat. These are all key ways we adjust for the colder times ahead. We know that if we do not prepare, change, adapt we would surely freeze in the coming winter.

   Likewise the church continues to prepare, change, adapt. The hot times of the church growth season are over. Actually they have been over for twenty or thirty years, but we never really noticed because we were still coasting along comfortably in the mild afterglow of what used to be. Back in the post World War II era families centered together  and sought the community church out. But those times have changed and the church is not seen as the center of the community; to many it is not even noticed anymore. And so we must begin to adapt and be noticed again, to be the light on the corner, to shout the Good News, to be the place people find peace, help, comfort and the glory of God. The times are changing--well, have changed--it’s about time we start to catch up.              

       In the Peace and Grace of God,             
                         Pastor Kirk Griffin