Home again-- again

We got back early last evening, and collapsed. We spent whirlwind days out in St. Hitherland-- visiting churches, chatting with their bishop, interviewing and being interviewed. The towns involved are small and hardworking; our worship together was solid, a relaxed and yet holy time. It would be a challenging ministry-- there's a lot of possibility there, and a lot of hope; but also a fair number of "issues" to be addressed, some of them significant. Our last conversation, on Friday evening, contained some unexpected notes, perhaps. I was straightforward in telling them that, if they called me to do the sort of faithful work together they said they wanted to do, some changes would need to happen. The idea of change can be scary, of course; but no one ran screaming from the room. Whether they are really willing to try moving in a direction of more intentional discipleship remains to be seen.

In any case, I spoke "as the Lord gave me utterance," and as gently as I could and still be honest with them. The next decision is now in their hands, and in God's.