This week.

I had a recent exchange where I was asked what my experience is of change in the church.  I replied that it was quite a lot; each semester in campus ministry is different from the last.  Some new people come and familiar faces are less familiar.  People go through seasons of engagement, and all of us, over the course of our lives, change as we grow.  That’s how it should be; change isn’t easy but when we engage and not resist we can find transformation for ourselves and our society.  But engagement means something for the long haul.  Engagement asks us to see ourselves as a part of something more, something greater, something with purpose and character, than just our needs in one given moment.

We remember Martin Luther King Jr. not just because he was a civil rights leader in an era when we needed civil rights leaders.  We remember Martin Luther King Jr. because he articulated a vision: a biblical vision of the goodness of creation, the power of being called to live as God’s people, and the strength necessary to challenge ourselves and others to live as the people of God.  Rather than rage against the world he reminded us of the power of peace, rather than assault those who opposed him he invited them to see the abundance around them, rather than tear down institutions build around the status quo he led us to imagine institutions living fully into what they could be for the benefit of our society.  That’s how it should be for us as we continue to engage reluctant institutions, those who don’t agree with us, and those who prefer conflict as they focus on fear, resentment, and self-interest.

This is a season of change, and at Trinity Commons we’re going to start this new year embracing some change by engaging with the world which God calls ‘good’ in its forming, which Jesus is born into to live and work, and which the Holy Spirit continues to be a guide as we live into new challenges.  I know not everything is for everyone, but I encourage you to join us, to get out of your comfort zone, and to allow yourself to try and experience the transformative power of change.

–Thomas