Resolutions
So it’s the new year now, and I’m thinkin’ about resolutions. I’m also reflecting on the past year… some people in the emerging church blogosphere are quite happy that the year is done and gone, having not had a very happy 2005 I guess. Not so for me… 2005 was not an easy year, but I would say I’m standing on a much better piece of figurative turf today than I was a year ago.
A year ago, we were thinking about leaving the church we were in… now our CLB. I’m happy about that, despite the years of effort we put into building it. Now we’re “churchless” in a sense, and I’m happy about that too… understanding that when I say “churchless” I mean we don’t regularly attend an institution called “church” in a building called “a church” …it does not mean we’re Godless or faith-communityless. Anything but, and I’m happy about that.
A year ago, we began gathering together, just a few of us getting together in a kind of common spiritual interest, which has now grown into “a thing.” I mean, everybody says it’s a “thing” regardless what we call it or think of it. I would say that we’re definitely building community with one another, and I’m happy about that.
A year ago, we were just deciding to sell our house and move into a different part of the city. This has not taken place (at least not yet), and I still haven’t figured out how I feel about that.
A year ago, I was just becoming acquainted with the emerging church conversation and with missional ideas as other people had described them… but found in both the resonance of years of disquiet within me, and I’m happy about that.
A lot has happened in the past year, and on the whole, it’s positive stuff. So this is January of a new year (naturally, since the calendar only comes in one order) and it’s one of the two times in the year when we tend to take stock a little bit and make any mid-term course corrections that we deem appropriate. Some people call those new years’ resolutions, but I think I’m with Brother Maynard on that one, not making any highfalutin’ resolutions, except resolving to hope, and to try. What he’s written there also has me thinking about the nature of lasting change, and what it takes to achieve it… but nailing that one down will take some amount of further pondering.
On the other hand, Randy McRoberts is making resolutions… seven of them, in fact. Oddly enough, and two of them are covered in the upper right corner of this page… living by the Jesus Creed and living by Brother Maynard’s dictum. (Brother Maynard’s little motto has never really been called a “dictum” before, but he tells me he’s honoured, and happy about it.) These are two good resolutions to make, I think. Two general ways of trying to live that could just change your life. Perhaps that’s the path to lasting change… consciously living by a principle that infoms all of your other actions.
Maybe if the Pharisees had been able to boil it down like Jesus did instead of trying to live by an endless interpretation of an endless set of rules, they’d have done much better. Yeah, “perhaps.” And perhaps this is why I’m happier to hope and to try to live a certain way rather than creating a personal list of do’s and don’ts to run with, a kind of personal pass/fail list, just because it’s a new year. The do’s and don’ts on the list seem so goal-oriented, whereas the alternative of hoping and trying seems so much more journey-oriented. Oriented. Like simply trying to stay pointed in the right direction, and keep moving forward… not a bad “goal” at all, I say.
I like the pace of hoping and trying… I think I find a kind of simple peace in it. And I’m happy about that.
