All the Way to the Heart

Jim Harnish begins his book, You Only Have to Die, with a powerful and provocative sentence that he hopes we will remember if we forget everything else that we read:
"Hope is born when we are willing to die for the right things."

That kind of sentence certainly should grab our attention. Most of us (myself included) do not like to think about death--especially our own or that of anyone close to us. We also do not like to think about a congregation or community dying. And yet that is a reality.

Every year at Annual Conference, we discontinue one or more congregations that can no longer sustain life. Every so often, we discontinue a congregation that was among the "once great" in terms of membership and prestige in the conference. Such action, of course, comes only as a last resort, usually after years in which dwindling congregations seek to survive in one form or another.

I do not think that we are anywhere near death at First United Methodist Church. However, we have not been holding our own over the last several years--or decades. Our membership numbers and worship attendance are trending downward, and we have trouble making sure that there is enough revenue to meet the expenses that we incur. There are, to be sure, glimmers of hope and pockets of possibility, but they need to be carefully nurtured and encouraged.

Yet, according to Jim Harnish, death--for the right things--can be the way to life, can be the birth of new hope. That is the challenge that we have set for ourselves in the process of re-visioning our life and work as a congregation.

Harnish reminds us of the powerful words of Jesus, when he said "Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit"(John 12:24). It is "costly obedience" that leads to joy.

So what does that mean for us at First United Methodist Church? Do we have the kind of "long-time, locked-in leadership . . . that really would rather see their churches die than change?"(p. 12). I believe not, but sometimes I wonder if we are not so captive to the way things have been that we are unwilling--or unable--to see things differently.

In the first chapter of You Only Have to Die, Harnish lays out for us three key "motivating convictions for ministry" that come out of his experience.

1. The Hope for the Transformation of the World Is in the Local Church. With bold and audacious words, Jim Harnish claims that "the hope for spiritual and social transformation resides in local congregations where people experience new life in Christ and become a part of the fulfillment of God's mission in the world"(P. 16). I think that he is right, and this leads me to contend that the hope for transformation of the community of Hutchinson lies in this local church--and others!
2. There is New Hope for Old Congregations. Harnish's claim is an encouraging affirmation for those who may feel--at least now and then--that "our time is past" and that "our best years are behind us." Instead, Harnish writes, "there is ample evidence that when pastors and laypersons allow the Spirit for God to do a work of divine cardiology in their life together, it is possible for congregations of all kinds of sizes in all kinds of places to become the agents of all kinds of new life"(p. 18).
   
3. Now Is the Time! Finally, Harnish claims the words of Isaiah that God is a doing a "new thing" in the world (Isaiah 43:19) and reminds us that the critical question is "whether or not the covenant people could perceive it." This is the context in which he cites the words of his friend, Dick Wills, pastor of Christ Church United Methodist in Fort Lauderdale, who said "that one of the decisive moments in the [transformation] process was when he stopped asking God to bless what they were already doing and started asking God to allow them to become a part of what God was already blessing" (p. 19).

May we find ways to become part of what God is blessing! May we go "all the way to the heart," seeking new life by God's power!