Happy "new year" - new school year, new church year, new beginnings! Today's post is from guest author Layton Williams Berkes, the managing editor of magazine Presbyterians Today, who has us ponder how we lead in an ever-changing world.
- - - - - - - - -
Hello friends,
As I write this, my nieces and nephews are about halfway through their first week back at school and the college football season has begun, both of which signal to me that summer is winding down and we are moving into a new year. It's a strange side effect of how we do school that we end up with new-year beginnings happening right in the middle of calendar years.
So we end up with two different types of new years happening at two different times! It always feels a little strange to me, but I also like. Right around the time the year is starting to grow stale and I've stalled out on all my big plans and hopes, this new new-year energy comes in to stir things up again.
It also feels true to life. When do we ever just have one thing going on? Different beginnings, endings, and middles are happening in our lives all the time and we are left to navigate them as best we can. This reality is also a reminder that change and newness can happen at any time.
That also fits with our theology: the Holy Spirit is always at work in, around and with us making all things new. Faithfulness then, is sometimes a matter of being open to possibilities and adaptive to the ways the Spirit calls us to change and grow.
I believe, as followers of Christ, that we are all called to lead--not necessarily in terms of being in charge of something or someone--but as those who can set an example of what faith, love, and hope look like in our ever-changing world.
How do we engage faithfully with past, present, and future in the midst of necessary change? How is change showing up in your life and community? What new beginnings are afoot? How is Jesus leading you through, and how are you being called to lead?
Sincerely,
Layton Williams Berkes
Managing Editor, Presbyterians Today
Comments