I’ve never not been a Christian.
Put more directly: I’ve been a Christian my whole life.
I was blessed to be raised by parents who followed the Way of Jesus, who embodied the love of Jesus, and who encouraged my full participation in the life of the local congregation I participated in from birth until college. In that congregation (First Presbyterian Church, PCUSA – Arlington, TX) I was nurtured, challenged, and supported. It was there that I was confirmed and there that I discerned a called to ministry. And, it is there that, as a high school senior, I preached my first sermon.
For the next fifteen or so years after I left that congregation, my journey was relatively smooth. I earned undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral degrees in ministry while serving progressively larger and larger congregations. Raised Presbyterian, I transformed into a Mainline Protestant moving freely about within the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Lutheran (ELCA), and Presbyterian (PCUSA) denominations.
Everything made sense. Everything worked well.
And, then, after 32 years, it no longer did.
Things changed quickly.
I was stuck.
In that season I found myself worshipping at Naples United Church of Christ. When I arrived I thought I knew what to expect. I was well aware that the United Church of Christ was a Mainline Protestant denomination. The pastor and so many of the people I met in this congregation affirmed that they were who they claimed to be. This all made sense. It was correct, but significantly incomplete.
I arrived as someone who had spent his entire adult life in congregation ministry, but who came in another capacity: follower of the Way of Jesus seeking the answer to “what next?” and hoping for clarity about becoming unstuck.
The answers were unexpected and life changing.
First, I was introduced to a Still Speaking God, and reminded never to place a period where God placed a comma. While the underlying theology was familiar, I found the specific ways it was written, spoken, and lived to be energizing and life-giving. These experiences beckoned me to begin anew, to grow, and to imagine new possibilities.
Second, just as I was scratching the surface of the first change I was invited to join the staff of Naples UCC. During my time leading adult discipleship, I was able to help thousands of other followers of the Way of Jesus expand their theological horizons. With the help of many volunteers, I led a season of dramatic growth in the number and variety of classes offered while also bringing the authors of some of the books we studied to Naples as lecturers and preachers (including Marcus Borg, John Shelby Spong, and Diana Butler Bass). I enjoyed this role so much that I served Naples UCC longer than I’ve served any other congregation.
Third, I was encouraged to expand my impact beyond this congregation. I became a Member in Discernment (UCC speak for entering a process of exploration that often leads to ordination). I taught religion at a nearby university. And, I served as the Interim Senior Pastor of a congregation to the South (United Church of Marco Island) and another to the North (Fort Myers Congregational United Church of Christ).
This past Sunday I had the pleasure of returning to Naples UCC as a worshipper. I was in Naples to visit my parents. Together we sat at the feet of the congregation’s new (less than a week on the job!) Interim Senior Pastor, Rev. Dr. David Greenhaw.
His message, “A Very Long Time,” could have been titled “Becoming Unstuck.” Greenhaw explored ways in which people and even organizations have experienced stuckness for a season or for many years, comparing those realities to the stuckness experienced for 38 years by the paralyzed man in John 5:1-9. Greenhaw suggested that we often have the will to do certain things or we have the capacity — we have the will but lack the capacity or have the capacity but lack the will – and that the two come together on rare occasion. When capacity and will come together, change happens — and we should call this change a miracle.
So What?
There are times in life when we get stuck. People get stuck. Churches get stuck.
Seasons of stuckness can come upon us at any time and they can last months, years, or even decades. It is time that we see every act of unsticking for the miracle that each is. And, it is time that we recognize that these big changes are only possible when will and capacity come together.
Today, I give thanks for the gift of Naples United Church of Christ – a church with a rich history of unsticking people, including me.