2012

What will 2012 bring?

Some among us believe that 2012 will bring the end of the world. Most of those who embrace this belief seem to be folks who like conspiracy theories and prophecies of doom, without being overly concerned about facts or reality. As I understand it, the fear or fascination surrounding 2012 as the end of time stems from the discovery of an ancient Mayan calendar in the ruins of a temple complex somewhere in Central America. The calendar, which is carved in stone, ends in 2012 because the carver ran out of space after carving December 21, 2012. I do not understand why some folks take lack of space to mean the end of the world, but they do. I want you to know that I’m already planning for a series of meaningful Christmas Eve worship services on December 24, 2012, and I hope you’ll join me here at Central!

Figuring out what 2012 means in more personal terms – in our lives, in our church, in our community and country and world – is no less challenging than worrying about the end of time. We can point to and anticipate certain dates – anniversaries, graduations, weddings, retirements, birthdays, etc. – but we cannot know or plan for all the twists and turns and opportunities and surprises that the year will bring. Some of these events and prospects will bring joy and hope, while others will certainly offer us more difficult and challenging feelings and emotions.

As I look to the coming year for our congregation, I see 2012 as a year that will invite us at Central to step into God’s future in bold and perhaps scary ways. As we all know, Central’s Session has had a task group in place for most of 2011; and this group has been charged with developing a new organizational structure for how we do ministry together at Central. After a feedback process with the congregation and church boards this fall, the details of our new structure are undergoing final revisions. In the first months of 2012 the plan will be put forward for approval by the appropriate bodies, with a hoped-for implementation date of the Congregational Meeting on March 4.

While putting together a new structure has involved a lot of hard work for the task group and others, the real challenge, as I see it, will be for all of us as a congregation to embrace new ways of doing ministry together for this day and age – for 2012 and beyond. Change is hard and often times scary. Most of us don’t care for change, because it takes us out of our comfort zones, and means we have to learn new things and possibly have to think and act differently! And yet without an openness to change, a church quickly ceases to listen to the whispers and callings of the Holy Spirit, who is forever inviting us into God’s future. Without an openness to change, the worship and fellowship and education and caring and mission that we so value in our church is put at risk as we fail to stay connected to the changing culture around us, and other people become less and less interested in what we say and do. (challenge of change)

2012 will be both exciting and scary in ways we can anticipate, and in ways we cannot foretell. I believe that regardless of what is to come, our individual and corporate life is always and only possible because of God’s loving presence with us. We know this presence most personally and most completely in the earthly life of Jesus Christ, whose birth we’ve just remembered and embraced once again. As we prepare to exit one year and enter another, let us make sure that Jesus is our continuity – for in him, all things are indeed possible.

See you in worship in the New Year!

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