Monday, January 14, 2008

Spiritual Adaptation

Wouldn't it be nice to have a magic wand to solve our ministry problems? It sounds crazy, but I keep running across people wanting magic wands.

Of course they don't use the term magic wands. Congregational leaders call them "answers." Like, "People in our church want to [insert mildly controversial topic here]. What should we do?" Then they look at me as if I have the one Scripture text or theological insight that will solve their problem.

Ministry students do the same thing, but with more sophistication. They use words like "discernment" and "vision" and "leading." (All good words, by the way.) "I'm trying to discern a clear leading for my ministry vision" means "I don't have a clue and I'm hoping someone will tell me what to do."

Jacob wrestled with God, and maybe that is a better metaphor than magic wand. The wrestling caused Jacob to limp the rest of his life. And maybe that is also a good metaphor.

I like the word adaptation. It implies changing because of the reality around me. Most of the time when people look for magic wands they want solutions to problems instead of wrestling with God to discover what he is doing and then adapting themselves to his work.

When we wrestle with God he will always win, even if he has to break our leg to get us to submit. God has a funny way of confronting us with reality, then expecting us to adapt to his work.

As ministers, we must look for God's reminders of what is real--as difficult as that may be. Then, when tempted to seek a magic wand to overcome the problem, pray for the strength to change, to grow, to adapt.

It is unlikely, however, that once we enter God's reality that we will ever walk the same again.