New Year is a good time to stop and take stock. A time to listen and reflect. A time to plan and dream.
And 2018 was a dramatic year. My sense for 2018 was that it would be a year of transition, and that’s certainly how it turned out. My eldest was married and moved to London. My daughter left for university. Our leadership team embarked on a long process of transitioning towards a new staffing team structure. And its not just confined to me and YCC. Its fair to say there is some transition going on nationally. Also, it’s clear that transition is a theme in the church nationally too.
Change and shift everywhere.
And in YCC we are about half way through, so I didn’t really expect anything new from God at the beginning of this year. Just another year of transition. So I was surprised when God said something different.
My sense this year is that the time of transition is over. Which is strange as I said, because we are still very much in the middle of it. But what it looks like in the physical is different to the reality. What it looks like to our human eyes is different to what we are called to see.
My sense this year is that the time of transition is over.
2019 isn’t about transition to the new, because the new is already here. Its not about preparation because the new is here now. It’s not about where we are heading in the future, because it’s now in the present.
We’re here. A new moment. A new time. It’s now.
We just need to learn to realise it.
We need to learn to realise it cognitively, and we also need to learn to realise it physically, spiritually and practically.
We need to learn to live in it differently, because everything is different now.
It might not look like it. It might not seem like it. But here we are.
That is not to say that the paradoxes don’t exist. They still do. Perhaps more so than ever. Chaos alongside a deep peace. Profound life and yet surrounded by death. Light in the midst of darkness. Hope in the face of despair. If anything these things are more true. And yet, in the midst of it all, a resounding beauty. A new moment. This new reality. The place of presence is more available. More tangible than before, even though the chaos may be louder, the darkness may be thicker, the pain may be stronger. But the kingdom is more present.
Things that would take years previously might be realised in weeks, or days, or even moments. Things we have been dreaming of for ever are no longer out of reach, or just existing in our imagination. Things we have been building towards, or planning for, can now be a present reality. Some things we have failed to leave behind will fall away almost effortlessly.
Freedom. Hope. Love. Beauty.
A shifting of the light
And so we need to see differently.
We need to sense differently.
We need to live differently.
We need to walk differently.
We need to talk differently.
We need to act differently.
We need to love differently.
We need to breathe differently
The ways we have done things will not work today
The paths we have walked will not guide us today
The songs we have sung will not resonate today
Today is new
God is calling us to walk closer to him, with lighter feet, ready to move, run, react, dance, or stop. God is calling us to a deeper relationship.
We need to learn new ways
We need to sing new songs
We need to find the new rhythm
We need to walk closer, hear more keenly, and trust more profoundly.
This path is not to be seen, but it is to be followed.
This way is not to be mapped, but it is to be navigated
This life is not to be planned, but it is to be lived
The picture I have is one of being blindfolded, which for a visionary is problematic. The senses we have relied on, or thrived in, are being restricted so we can learn new senses. So we become more dependent on His voice. So we lean in, push in, cling to Him.
God is calling us to walk closer to him, with lighter feet, ready to move, run, react, dance, or stop. God is calling us to a deeper relationship. A deeper dependence on Him. And start living in the new reality.
In the new moment.
In the new light.
