There’s an old familiar song that comes to mind about this time every year. Actually, it’s just the first line of the verse: “The falling leave drift by my window, the autumn leaves of red and gold.” That’s what I’m experiencing as we move into October. It’s a beautiful time of year.

    Usually, Terri and I make plans to spend a couple of nice days out enjoying the Fall colors. The Tri-State area of Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York are nice places to travel, with all those hills and valleys. You can see a lot in a couple of days. And yet timing is everything when it comes to checking out the Fall colors. Last year our schedules didn’t allow us to make the journey until late October, and it was a little too late. Much of the colors had turned to brown and a big rain storm blew most of the leaves off the trees.

    There’s a lot to be said about timing, especially when it comes to change. Some change can be as predictable as the seasons, but at the same time, circumstances can effect change or even let it slip by. Which means that in most cases we need to be ready for change. In some cases we can create change, seeking to have an element of control over the process. But I’ve come to learn that most of the time change sneaks up on us, often catching us by surprise.

    Maybe that’s why most of us are not that happy when change comes along. Because it’s mostly out of our control. Having just turned 60 this past August has proven that. The mental image of myself and the one I actually see in the mirror each day are not the same. The fact that a year from now I will have lived longer than both my parent is a sobering thought. I expect to be around a long, long time, so it’s hard to imagine that my parents will be forever younger than me. And still that realization will in fact be a blessing for me. Change comes, ready or not.

    The truth is without change we can never really move forward. How does that saying go:  “A body at rest tends to remains at rest, but a body in motion tends to stay in motion.” If I remember my physics, motion is usually created by an external force.

    When I look at Church Life and Change (as a positive) I have often imagined that the external force that moves us forward is “The Holy Spirit.” Not so much in surprising ways, although it does happen from time to time. We know the Spirit of God is among us, just as we are aware of the seasons in their coming and going. But in such matters timing is also important. Which means that we need to be alert, to be ready, to be prepared to be moved by this spiritual force that is able to guide us in the direction we need to go.

    In my short time here at First Christian Church I have seen that this “Body of Christ” is not at rest, it is moving forward on many levels. There is a willingness here to allow the Holy Spirit to be that force that moves us forward. May we continue to see the changes taking palace here as positive steps forward in the ministry and mission Christ is calling you to share in.

    Remember these words from the Apostle Paul: “…forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.”
    (Philippians 3:13b-14)