“The squirrels are fighting in and about the
oak tree whose roots extend to unseen places below me and whose branches
extend toward the infinity of sky above me. Yes, the squirrels are raising a
ruckus. But the Old Oak is unmoved but still growing, and I love Her Shade
and the hope of Her Acorns.”
My friend Brad Bull posted this on his Facebook page recently.
My response was to ask if this was a metaphor for some particular
event. He did not respond directly, so I will put my spin on it (with
his permission to reproduce his comment).
A lot of things have happened in our country over the past
two months. Some have grieved, some have rejoiced, some
have forgiven, some have become angry. Society and culture work that
way. We find our own ways to cope or
make sense out of change, when things seem out of control. None of us
in complete control; if you think you are, I can recommend a good counselor
to you.
Here's my "spin" on Brad's comment. The
church has been around for two thousand years. Sometimes it has led and
sometimes it has followed. The church has blessed and it has oppressed.
The key thing is that the church has survived and prospered. Why?
Because the church (and by this I mean those who are called into fellowship
with Christ) has listened to the Holy Spirit. The Spirit has informed,
transformed, and empowered believers through time of significant change and
crisis. Of course, sometimes this
adjustment takes awhile.
Since the Bible does not condemn slavery, Christians used
the acceptance of the practice in the first century to justify its practice
well into the 19th century. At the same time, Jesus said a lot about
caring for the poor, orphaned, and widowed but somehow that message hasn't
gotten through to all of us yet. Change can be very slow.
Accepting change is never easy. Winston Churchill said
"You can always count on Americans to do the right thing--after they
have tried everything else." The same can be said for the church. Even when we realize that the Spirit is
calling us into something new, the process of change can be slow and
agonizing. The only real sign of life
is change. It is time that we
understand and embrace that truth.
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File photo of Steve Carter, Heather Larson, and Bill Hybels As Christian brothers and sisters, we need to pray for Willow Creek Community Church. On the eve of the Global Leadership Summit, a worldwide conference sponsored by the church in cooperation with the Willow Creek Association, church leadership imploded as a result of further allegations against former pastor Bill Hybels. Last year, Hybels introduced the team who would assume church leadership upon his retirement--lead pastor Heather Larson and teaching pastor Steve Carter. Although the founding pastor planned to stay on to assist in a time of transition, reports of sexual impropriety involving Hybels surfaced early this year. He accelerated his departure from the church and left the board of the Willow Creek Association. When other charges emerged last week, teaching pastor Carter resigned. On Wednesday evening, Larson and the entire elder board--lay leaders who provide accountability ...
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