Followby Brian Waple
Many of you know I work from home. I have a small office that looks out into the backyard and a little bit beyond into our development. It’s a pleasant, unchanging view, but it’s a small perspective, and I’m limited in what I can see. For the next couple of days, we are in Newberg, Oregon. My “office” is an upstairs dining room with large picture windows. My view is the vast expanse of sky and the land that makes up a good portion of the Willamette Valley. I can see for miles in all directions. It provides a much larger perspective than what I normally have, and it makes me aware of how God sees things. Big . . . unfathomably big, and much larger than mine.
Our transition at Elim is an opportunity for all of us to see from a different perspective. I really appreciated what Pastor Martin shared last Sunday about “us being the final message.” To me, that means we can continue to maintain a perspective of what Elim has been and try to keep it that way—or, we can choose to embrace God’s perspective and see what He may be calling us into as a church.
Our natural bent (certainly my natural bent) is to go with the former, keeping things the way they are and resisting change as best we can. That perspective is safe, but it can be limiting, and it may keep us from seeing where God is moving. In Matthew, Jesus speaks to the multitude and provides them with a different perspective for how God sees things:
One day as he saw the crowds gathering, Jesus went up on the mountainside and sat down. His disciples gathered around him, and he began to teach them.
“God blesses those who are poor and realize their need for him, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.
God blesses those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
God blesses those who are humble, for they will inherit the whole earth.
God blesses those who hunger and thirst for justice, for they will be satisfied.
God blesses those who are merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
God blesses those whose hearts are pure, for they will see God.
God blesses those who work for peace, for they will be called the children of God.
God blesses those who are persecuted for doing right, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.
God blesses you when people mock you and persecute you and lie about you and say all sorts of evil things against you because you are my followers. Be happy about it! Be very glad!” (Matthew 5:1-12, NLT)
Because of the transition, things will be changing around Elim. And we all will have questions. In seeking answers, rather than holding onto a safe, limiting perspective, how can we all be open to embracing a perspective that helps us see how God sees things? How can we all seek to find where God may be leading Elim today and in the years to come?
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