In the Midst of the Storm
January 2022
"I'm worried about our church council. They're not making good decisions, and the church is declining," the voice on the other end of the phone spoke rapidly, as if they needed to get the words out before I cut them off or contradicted them. The day before, I'd had a similar conversation. That one began, "I'm worried about our pastor..."
Last week, I also had a phone call with a friend who is always optimistic, and who will turn a hundred years old this year. For the first time that I can remember, when I mentioned how much the world has changed in her lifetime, she said, "And I don't like it!" That day, she had called me because she was worried about her church and thought I might help her strategize a solution.
I'm not here to tell you your church council or your pastor are doing a great job. I trust you to know your own community better than I do. If you call me with a concern, I will listen to you (so you don't need to rush the words out). However, I may also reflect back to you that your local church is part of a much larger world, and your worry and energy may be misdirected.
In a study on climate anxiety published last fall in The Lancet, ten thousand young people (ages 16-25) from around the world were surveyed. Of those, 75% said they think the future is frightening. The news stories around this study focused mainly on how to lower anxiety in young people. Media personalities offered strategies from meditation to medication to help with anxiety. I kept wondering if what we needed was not to dampen our anxiety, but to better direct it. Of course we're anxious about the future. We should be! So how can we direct that anxious energy into something that will make a difference in the long run?
I expect your church, like most churches, is in a period of gathering-in. Attendance is down. Finances may be shrinking. Some people might have left to do other things. This is not because your church is doing something wrong, it's because the world is in the midst of a global pandemic, the climate is weirding, the economy is seeking equilibrium. We are in boats tossed about on a stormy sea, and we don't know what the future will hold.
At moments like this, we might naturally have a tendency to think if we swab the deck and pick up the cabins, then the storm will abate. But what we need in the uncertainty are tight-knit and resilient communities that will be able to weather the storm. Your church is gathering-in because it's doing something right. If you're not swabbing the deck and picking up the mess, it's likely because the boat is rocking too much.
I'm reminded of a story from the life of John Wesley. During his journey back to England after a miserable failure of a ministry in Virginia, his ship ran into a terrible storm. He was terrified. He was also depressed and uncertain about his future. The largest group of passengers on the ship were a community of Moravians. They huddled together, sang songs, and loved one another. Wesley was struck by the spirit of their community, and when he returned home, he began attending Moravian services occasionally. It was at one of these services that he said, "my heart was strangely warmed" and he began to find his way again as an Angilcan priest.
You may feel like a small community in the midst of a storm. You are rightly anxious as the whole world wonders about our future. Your cabin may be strewn with items that have fallen on the floor. Now is the time to turn your anxious energy into song, into love, into resilience. Like those Moravians, you may not have the ability to steer the ship, but you can have a spirit that provides hope in the dark -- and there are others huddled in the cabin looking for that hope and listening for your prayers. They may stay huddled in the corner, but they see you, and they need your resilience now more than ever.
Thank you for your energy. Thank you for your anxiety that can be channeled into love. And, as always, thank you for being the church for this time and this place.
Blessings,
Tyler
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