Transition 11.7.2024

    

November is a month of transitions. It began with the weather.  There were hints in October that Autumn meant more than days on the calendar. Even the warmer days began with a different kind of crispiness. Then as we slept Saturday night, we bid farewell to Daylight Savings Time and the hour we “lost” in the Spring was returned to us. Halloween is the prelude to the rest of the fall-winter holidays. For Halloween dressing up meant costumes. In the coming weeks dressing up may mean wearing something nicer to Grandma’s and eventually dressing up gives way to bundling up. 

    November is the month where we begin to assess this year and become increasingly focused on next year. We prepare for the long winter to come and start to make plans for the central celebrations of the Christmas Season. In the Church we think of Jesus every week. The Christmas season means that many others—some who have ignored Him all year will be thinking about Him as well. Some of those people will be hurting, or lonely, or sad. Some will have gotten through such drastic transitions that our shift from late summer to autumn seems quant and harmless. The Church must minister through these transitions as we shift our focus to a different season with different challenges. 

    The Transitions of our current time and place may make people nostalgic for a past that shaped them, hurt them, bent them, or scarred them. They will appear in my congregation and yours and one of our tasks during this intense, emotional season of transitions is to remind every listener that “God did not send His Son into the world to condemn it but to redeem it.” 

     Some will come haltingly and leave your assembly joyfully. Others will come with pain and find a way to leave it there at the foot of the cross. Others will come with debilitating grief and discover comfort. Some will come from a world that is discolored with shame and leave with a renewed appreciation for the myriad colors of life. 

    Now, I’m sure that you have good, well laid plans for Christmas. You are ready for people who will only make that occasional holiday appearance. Are you ready for those who celebrate early? Some snowbirds make this time of year a period of preparation for leaving cold weather behind for the winter. How will you encourage them? Sometimes families have several “Thanksgivings”. You may be catching some of them before, after, or during #2, or even #3. Will you be ready to help them experience the gratitude felt by the entire Body of Christ during this season of transition? 

    Christmas is coming but Thanksgiving will most likely get here first (Trust me on this). What a chance we have! To help people see Jesus with greater clarity and to hear the Word proclaimed with purpose! You have been called not only to lead your Congregation through this transition but to help them serve others joyfully in those transitions.  One November Sunday is past—in fact only eight Sundays remain in the year. The transition is upon us, opportunity awaits. Let’s prepare well to do that work to which we are called.