Loading...On December 1st, the First Sunday of Advent, the Very Rev. David Webb wished me a Happy New Year. Upon first hearing this, you might think he was a month ahead of us — but he was spot on! We are in the midst of a New Church Year with the opening of the Advent season.
When we perceive or experience a new thing, things change in us. Our hearts flutter a bit. We glory at the potential of the new. In our culture, we tend to look at new things as bright and shiny and improved. New things also bring, what many feel uncomfortable with, and that’s change.
The idea of something changing sends many of us into a type of panic mode. We approach something unknown and different, and our bodies go into ‘fight-or-flight’ mode. Our comfort zones are threatened and it makes us nervous. When NBC decided to stage a live performance of “The Sound of Music” this week, many immediately went to the Julie Andrews-Christopher Plummer film as the benchmark and declared that nothing will ever top the March 12, 1965 movie. In the scheme of things, this example is probably unimportant, but if you check out social media and reactions to this new production, it might as well be Armageddon. You never know how you or anyone else might react to change, or something different.
One of the great prophets of humanity died this week, Nelson Mandela. A voice for change in his native South Africa, he spent 27 years in prison because of his work with the African National Congress, seen as a terrorist organization by the Apartheid government in Pretoria. Yet, in the mid-90s, when Apartheid was defeated as a way of life and government, Mandela was elected president of his beloved country and urged peace, compassion, and reconciliation among his people. He sparked change — and it made many uncomfortable — but it was the right change to happen. The world will never forget that voice and herald of peace
Of course, not all change ends up with positive results for the good of the people. Not all new things make sense, or are sometimes not even necessary. Who remembers New Coke in the 80s? I recently had lunch with our Bishop Terry White and we chatted a bit about all the new that is happening in the Episcopal Church in this diocese. Not only new staff members in his Office, but seven Louisville congregations in seasons of interim ministry, preparing for new clergy and changes to their communities.
So, yes, in this New Year of Christ’s Church, as we prepare for a new birth, and await the changes of new life, we wonder, we pray, we give thanks, and we wait!
