Pastor Angie's In-spire-ations March 2017
I am addicted to sticky notes! That’s because my memory isn’t what it used to be. Life gets so busy that we forget not only what we need to get done, but even who we are in the midst of the hustle. I need a note that says, “Your name is Angie…you belong to God!” Maybe my sticky note should be more about what God wants me to do rather than what I think I should be doing. Maybe that focus would keep me from falling into old habits and routines.
We joke about it a lot, but remembering is important. I challenge you to think of it as a spiritual task that strengthens who we are in Christ. It’s important to remember who we were before we were in Christ so that we don’t repeat those old habits or get stuck in old routines.
The risky part of remembering comes when where we have been looks pretty inviting and we get stuck on the bus back to Egypt. II Corinthians 5:17 says: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has gone. The new has come.” I can’t say this enough: It’s important to remember where we have been, but if we get stuck in the way we have always done things, we will not only become stagnant, but very quickly we will become irrelevant in our community and in the world. This scripture says the old is already gone and the new has already come as soon as we accept Christ as our foundation.
Let me give you an example of how exciting remembering can be when it moves us forward instead of back to Egypt. I have been facilitating the When Helping Hurts study with the Friendship Class. As part of that experience, I led them through an asset mapping exercise. While we honored things Trinity has done in the past, we only mapped what is happening right now and what each person brings to the table individually as well as what they bring corporately. The most amazing thing happened! They started to see places where we might GO! We saw new creations that could happen in ministry here. They remembered who they are as we looked at where they have been, and they began to see how all they bring to the table from those experiences can become a new ministry that is missing at Trinity! With just that group alone! Imagine if we did asset-mapping with the whole church body!! It was one of the most exciting hours I have had in ministry! I loved every minute of leading them through this exercise because I could see them remembering their identity.
By the time you read this, we will have finished that exercise and I will have already lobbied to do this with more people in the church in a workshop format. I am having such a great time in ministry with ‘ya’ll.’ I can’t wait to see the new creations!!