Which are we in life? We’ve been looking at this scenario recently as a church community.
Stop following everyone else’s road. Be transformed. Have a renewed mind.
Test and Discern so know what’s really good. (Romans 12:2, The Bible)It is important to know the past and the basis of where you’ve come from in life, business and background.
The famous psychologist M. Scott Peck wrote ‘The Road Less Travelled’ and he noted a common theme: that the vast majority of people consider that they look ahead, based on their conscious awareness but the, conscious is driven by their sub-conscious.
He would draw a small circle with a huge outer circle around it and label the smaller one ‘conscious’ leaving the enormous one the collective experience and understanding of the sub-conscious. Was it sensible to consider that something that huge wasn’t a ‘driver’ into the future?
Testing and discerning in order to make good decisions is healthy. It is important to look down at today. To take a moment to consider the things that we rarely consider.
The Mindfulness movement has brought this to an increasing number of people. The Bible spoke into this long ago with a verse from the New Testament “be transformed by the renewing of your mind”. As a church we’ve been looking at today: who we are, the things we do and the reason for this. One of the key questions has been whether a vicar is still needed, wanted or desired in the village. We’ve come to the view that this is something which is for the general good of all and we are moving forward with this.
It is important to look to the future. There is a beautiful Hebrew word in Scripture: parach. We know it as ‘flourish’. Flourishing involves two things for the Christian. It is a combination of the two people who met at the crossroads where one was looking ahead and the other focused on the road just travelled.
The Hebrew means to ‘blossom and bud; to bear something new as it unfurls’. It is like looking down a road of a new dawn in life or the sealing of a corporate decision that leads to good things. It also means looking back and seeing the old ways cease; a dying off of that which has been holding us back; literally ‘withering it to nothing’ so that it has no power over us any longer.
You’re invited to explore the crossroads.
As a church we are looking back down the road of the best of the past; looking at today and mindful of a flourishing future. If this is something that sparks thoughts for you; perhaps about a different future, being the same person but with a new ethic which allows the past to wither away; a desire to pause, reset and consider today; then we’re offering a course over several weeks in the New Year to explore whether this holds water and a Christian approach which centres life differently is worth pursuing.
If you’d like to find out more information about this course (called Alpha) then put alpha course trailer into YouTube for a 2 minute intro. It’s about looking back, down and forwards all at once. To take this a step further and ask about the course that we’re putting on, email alpha@bhcgodalming.org.
Simon Taylor