Ponderings on change

Insomnia, leg cramps, and a host of minor inconveniences kept my body from sleep at the early stages of this morning. Eventually, I gave up the fight and lay in bed pondering the larger host of thoughts running through my mind. They all seem to have a common theme - change, specifically change in the church. Among the various subpoints that garnered my mental energy this morning are the basic questions that we all ask, the what, when, where, why, and how of change in the church.

Several stories ran through my mind. I thought about Martin Luther and the history making change he initiated in the 15th century. I don't know if this is an actual event from Luther's life, but a particular scene from the movie Luther has always moved me (from what I know of that time in history, it is probably factual). In this scene, a young Martin Luther is serving as a monk, devoting his time to God in monastery. He was plagued with all sorts of spiritual and personal issues. His abbott decided that formal education and seminary would be a good path for Luther. The abbott asks Luther in this scene, "Have you ever read the New Testament?" I was floored - here is a religious monk devoting himself to God and reading the New Testament was not a given?! One of the most important changes wrought by the Protestant Reformation was the placing of Scripture back in the hands of the people.

Another story that filtered through my memory was an illustration I heard a fellow pastor use once. It's a story of pastor who came to a church and wanted to change the arrangement of the platform to make things look and work together better. It was obvious to him that the organ needed to be beside the piano, so he moved it across the stage. That first Sunday people were shocked. Within two weeks he was asked to leave and the organ put back into its original spot. A couple of years later, he was attending a meeting of other pastors at that same of church. He noticed the organ had been moved beside the piano. He asked the current pastor, "How did you do that? When I moved it, they fired me!" The other pastor replied, "I heard about that. Like you, it was obvious to me it needed to be moved, so I just moved it a few inches a week until I got it where it needed to be."

For someone like me who tends to be maverick in my doings, the most important thoughts I had fell into the "Why?" category. Why do we want to see change? Is it because things no longer work in their current state? Is it to satisfy a personal whim or preference? Is it because we are bored? Is it because we are genuinely inspired and motivated by something greater than ourselves? Is it because we have all been created with our own creative spark and for some of us, if we do not exercise and nurture that spark, we'll go crazy?