We have often heard or used the saying we are “between a rock and a hard place”. It is usually a time of conflict or challenge that we are trying to get through. We have these times as individuals and as a community of faith. We feel pressured, hemmed in, walls closing in on us, afraid and wondering if we can break free. But what if we changed our mindset to look at the situation with excitement and hope? What if we realized that between the rock and a hard place is a new place waiting to emerge? A new place filled with new possibilities.
As believers, Jesus came to equip us, to show us how to serve and co-create a new reality that is Christ centered and Spirit driven. In Ephesians 4.11-13 we hear:
11 Christ himself gave some apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers. 12 His purpose was to equip God’s people for the work of serving and building up the body of Christ 13 until we all reach the unity of faith and knowledge of God’s Son. God’s goal is for us to become mature adults—to be fully grown, measured by the standard of the fullness of Christ.
In this letter to the early church, Paul is reassuring them that God has and will give them (and us) everything needed to be disciples and build up the body of Christ. It’s time to be a mature people of God who trust and truly know, God is with us and will lead us in the next faithful steps we need to take.
Summer months are a good time to dream. Take some time to imagine what this new place might look like and remember “… for God all things are possible” (Mark 10:27). Let me know where your dreams take you.
In Christ’s Boundless Love,
Pastor Lenore