TRANSITIONS

 

Robert A. Wallace in a devotion entitled “God at Life’s Corners,” writes that, in Luke 9:51, Luke talking about Jesus’ final days tell us that:  “When the days drew near for Jesus to be taken up, He set His face to go to Jerusalem.” Luke is describing a transition time, a turning point, a corner.  With what biblical scholars call “the Galilean Springtime” behind Him, Jesus faced the bleak winter of opposition, and finally death.  Nothing would be the same again.  He had turned the corner.  Not all corners lead to harsh terrain.  Frequently, the effect is the opposite.  For example, persons moving to a new location will see new possibilities ahead.  Yet even a joyous turning point holds some anxiety.  For those with faith, the encouraging assurance is that God meets us at the corners.

 

With Bert’s leaving, you could say we are at one of life’s corners.  Unfortunately, endings must come before new beginnings, and every ending holds a quota of distress and sadness.  When we leave a familiar setting—place, job, relationship—we break connections.  Tolstoy said of this experience, “Something had broken within me on which my life had rested.”  It is important to deal with grieving and discomfort that is involved in all change.

 

Wallace also reminds us that there are also the “in-between” times.  All of us at BBC have experienced them--the times between childhood and adulthood, between education and vocation, between jobs, between homes.  A California professor has helped us to recognize this as “neutral” time.   In his book, Transitions, William Bridges urges us not to hurry from ending to new beginnings, but rather to let go and swim into the in-between so necessary for new growth.  As an example, he tells us how, at Kingfisher Crossing in Red Rock State Park in Arizona, a nature sign reads “The Effects of Flood Ecology.”  Flooding is a natural event.  It has an extreme scouring effect, almost like plowing.  The flood plain becomes bare and moist; new soil is brought in and debris is digested, making the land ready for the introduction of seeds.

 

In other cultures, states Wallace, this transition time is seen as natural but also mystic.  It is a time for waiting, for communication from the spirit world. We are not to ignore this period, nor are we to be overwhelmed by it.  In Christian terms, it is a time for surrendering life to the Holy Spirit who will repeat in us the same act of creation with which the world began when chaos turned to order at Her bidding.  

 

We are in an in-between time, and in September we began a new season of activity here at BBC.  We have had the privilege of welcoming John and Judy Furry to our family of faith albeit for an interim period.   We will be doing some things that we have done in years past; without Bert, we may be contemplating change in others.  The whole church year lies ahead of us—many opportunities await us.  And, as Christians, let us be prepared to turn the corners with grace and confidence, knowing that we are led by God even in those changes in which the road may seem uncertain as we journey together as God’s family of faith.

 

Blessings and peace to all,  Dawn

 

Based on and excerpts taken from:  Robert A Wallace, “God at Life’s Corners,” God at the Corners: The Turning Points of Life (Toronto: The United Church Publishing House, 1996), p. 2.

 

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Nov 2007                                                    BURLINGTON BAPTIST CHURCH                                                   Fall Issue