At our virtual Annual Conference last year each District Lay Leader gave a sixty second video message that was played for all the attendees. My message said, in part, that “the world in front of us is nothing like the world behind us.” More recently I have been thinking that “What got you here won’t get you there.”
In the last few weeks of 2021, I kept hoping that 2022 would be a better year than 2021 in many different ways. Now that we are in the first week of 2022, I am not confident that a better year is possible. The omicron variant will undoubtedly be the source of much frustration in 2022.
Our old approach to things just will not work anymore. And that makes me question whether I have the time, energy, and dedication to rethink everything. All of this can be very discouraging and very depressing.
As lay leaders aren’t we supposed to be leading our congregations in all our various ministries, not standing around with puzzled and confused looks on our faces? What is the answer to this situation we are all facing? How can we help our church move forward? I do not have a crystal ball that has all the answers, but I will share with you a few suggestions that may be of some help.
I played basketball and tennis in high school but some of my best friends played football. The football team was exceptionally good; they were undefeated and won the conference championship. My friends told me that the football coach repeatedly told the team that to succeed they always needed to think about getting up one more time than they were knocked down. That may be a clever work ethic for high school football, but I have always thought of church work as a no contact sport. Yet, getting back up is certainly what we are facing everyday as we strive to make disciples for Jesus Christ.
The other suggestion I have is from author Jim Collins’ 2001 national bestselling book, “Good to Great.” In his book Collins writes about the Stockdale Paradox. Jim Stockdale was an American Admiral captured and tortured for eight years (1965-1973) in the “Hanoi Hilton” pow camp during the Vietnam War.
Collins interviewed Stockdale for his book. During the interview Collins asked, “Who didn’t make it out?” Without even hesitating, Stockdale said the first prisoners to die in the camp were the optimists. They kept thinking that things would get better by a certain date (Christmas, then Easter, then Thanksgiving, then Christmas again) and they would be released. They never were released and “they died of a broken heart.” Stockdale said that the key to survival was to combine realism and hope (thus, the Stockdale Paradox). “You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end – which you can never afford to lose – with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be.” Collins writes that what Stockdale taught him is “what separates people…is not the presence or absence of difficulty but how they deal with the inevitable difficulties of life.”
So, as 2022 begins and we face a bleak situation, let us all get up after being knocked down and let us all retain our faith that we will prevail in the end with God’s help while at the same time confronting the brutal facts of our current reality.
Finally, the church bulletin blooper: The pastor will light his candle from the altar candles. The ushers will light their candle from the pastor’s candle. The ushers will turn and light each worshiper in the first pew.
Peace,
John Kelso
If you would like to view past editions of Lessons from Our Lay Leader (John Kelso), follow this link: https://harbordistrictnc.org/category/from-the-lay-leader/