Why is change so hard? I remember when I was in 6th grade my parents announced that we were going to join a new church, the Christian church.

“Why, I asked, would we do that? We are Methodist.”

“Well Carla, you have been going to the youth group at the Christian church for a year now so we thought you’d be happy that we are going to join that church together as a family.”

Even when change is rational and good, we sometimes resist it. It means letting go of something that is known and opening our hearts and minds to an uncertain future.

As a congregation we are now in that “in between” time. Sunday we celebrated the 14-year tenure of Dr. Glen Miles as our leader/pastor/preacher. Now we wait. We know that at some time in the future a Senior Minister will be called to serve and a new chapter will begin. As we navigate this or any other transition, it is natural for anxiety to arise and worry to creep in.

I am reminded that our forefathers and foremothers in the faith faced similar times of transition. “Go from your country . . . to the land I will show you” God told Abraham who stepped out in faith wondering what God had in mind. “Let my people go” Moses told Pharaoh as he led the people of God from Egypt and into the promised land with a slight 40-year detour into the wilderness where everyone complained profusely. Jesus began his life with transition: born in Bethlehem but fleeing to Egypt for safety and then returning with his parents to Galilee. But he didn’t ever settle down and instead wandered from village to village. And just about the time Jesus’ disciples begin to give their whole hearts to him, he vanishes, leaving them looking up to heaven in disbelief. Paul also refused to stay put, always saying goodbye to one set of friends and hello to a new set of God’s faithful.

Perhaps what makes transition difficult is not exactly the change itself. But rather the lingering questions. “Will God go with us? Will we go with God?” Times of transition force us to trust, to trust that the God who has carried us thus far, will carry us still. Just as our ancestors continued to find that the Holy Spirit guided them, our lay leaders at Country Club Christian Church will lead us faithfully into the future that God holds in God’s wise hands.

Theologian Hans Kung wrote: “If the Church really sees itself as the people of God, it is obvious that it can never be a static…phenomenon …. It is essentially an interim Church, a Church in transition, and therefore not a Church of fear but of expectation and hope: a Church which is directed towards the consummation of the world by God.” (from The Church)

-Carla