No Fast Lane to Transformation
4/03/02

We hope the Lenten season and Holy Week in particular prepared all of you and the congregations where you serve for a wonderful Easter celebration.  The week after Easter has never been a "let down" day for me.  Instead, it has been a opportunity to pause and give thanks for a season in which many churches reflected the kind of spiritual depth and power The Jesus Connection believes is possible in all churches in all seasons.  The message of Easter can be approach from several perspectives, but in all the ways we talk about it, the common theme is new life.  Easter reminds us that new life is possible because the God we believe is the Creator of life is always ready to bring life out of death.  

Yet the thing that church members tend to forget is that Easter is an event interwoven with crucifixion.  New life comes out of death.  In terms of the spiritual life, what this means is that transformation comes after sacrifice.  We might even say that it comes only after sacrifice.  In other words, spiritual transformation does not happen without struggle or pain.  As Bonhoeffer suggested many years ago, the transformative work of God is not "cheap grace," but involves a costly discipleship.  In practical terms, this means "there are no instant grapes in God's vineyard." 

Herein lies an important reminder to all of us about a crucial aspect of The Jesus Connection process as we live more deeply into Eastertide.  Nothing of any real substance happens quickly.  And even the good growth and change that do take place happen slower than any of us likes.  The fact is, spiritual anemia is so acute in some churches that it feels like time is running out.  So everyone wants something good to happen now, not next week, next month, and certainly not next year.  Yet we all know spiritual growth cannot be rushed simply because people don't change overnight. Yet that is the long and short of it, isn't it?  People need changing.  Transformed churches happen when people change.  But that takes time. The Spirit's work is most often slow and sometimes unseen. I wish it were otherwise, but it isn't. Joy and I have been co-pastoring for three and a half years, and I feel like we have only scratched the surface of getting people to catch the vision of church as we are seeking to live it out. 

So what do we do that is more than nothing but less than rushing the harvest?  Prayer is certainly one thing we can do, and that is not to be discounted or taken for granted.  But we can also preach and teach the vision we have.  I believe to do that effectively means preaching and teaching scripture. Every Sunday is an opportunity to preach sermons that underscore the biblical foundation for personal and structural transformation.  Church members do not make the connections with scripture about transformation that are second nature to us who are clergy.  They need help in realizing that what we are talking about is not new, it's just new to them.  Grounding TJC process in scripture will give them a sense of security and direction. TJC is not about ideas from books. It is about being the people of God in our time, and the primary source for knowing how to do that is scripture. Vision casting means preaching and teaching scripture and then trusting the Spirit to use both to bring about transformation.  So this is a reminder both of the slow pace of change and the need to ground this process in the biblical tradition. I wish transformation happened quickly, but it doesn't. At least it hasn't in my life. But it does happen, if we don't rush it or give up on it.
 
Grace and Peace,  Jan Linn - Spirit of Joy Christian Church, Apple Valley, MN