Today's reflection comes from Cara Ruble who serves as church council president and a member of the redevelopment team. Cara also teaches adult Bible study on Sundays. When not at church or work, Cara can often be found in the woods - if you can find her!
“If the axe is dull and its edge unsharpened, more strength is needed, but skill will bring success.” Ecclesiastes 10:10
For years, we have tried to simply use more strength to renew our church. We have done the same activities harder and better and more often, yet we are hoping for bigger changes. We have good and dedicated people who are trying really hard to bring new life to the church, but it still hasn't happened. We know that God has bigger plans for us.
Perhaps it is time to stop swinging our axe so hard, to take a break to sharpen it and return to the job with more skill. Proverbs 9:9 tells us, “Instruct the wise and they will be wiser still; teach the righteous and they will add to their learning.” One of the ways we can return to the job with more skill is to visit other churches, observing how they welcome visitors, serve the community and equip their congregation to live their faith in daily life.
Is this a risk? Will it be hard work? YES!
Proverbs 14:23 says, “All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty.” We will visit, observe and discuss, but after our discussion, it is time for us to pick something and act. While we know that we won’t necessarily get it right on the first try, as we experiment and try new things, we can see how God is guiding us. It is never a failure if we manage to learn something along the way.
Please join me in gaining skill, becoming wiser and adding to our learning. Sign up in the gathering space for a church to visit on June 2, then join us that evening at 5 pm in the fellowship hall in order to reflect and share what we have observed. We will also worship and share dinner together that evening as we seek where God is calling us as a congregation. Dinner will be provided through the funds we receive for redevelopment from the Indiana-Kentucky Synod and the ELCA.
We ask everyone to be in prayer for our congregation and everyone who will be participating in these church visits. Pray that God will open our eyes to see where God is calling us and how to use the gifts that God has given us.
In the love of Christ,
Cara Ruble