expectations

Last week, TKT and I spent 2.5 solid days planning, dreaming, and looking toward the fall/winter. It was good good. The Spirit moved, we listened, we talked, the Spirit listened, and in the end, I am very excited about what is in store for the near future at St. Paul's.

As any of you St. Paul's readers know, however, this excitement means something is going to change. It is the nature of our community. Children grow older. Ministries run through the course of the useful life. People move. Change happens.

The lessons from Jeremiah and Luke are helpful reminders for us as we look at change because how we react to change is all about our expectations.

Jeremiah has expectations of himself as "just a boy", but God blows them out of the water. Do not say, 'I am only a boy'; for you shall go to all to whom I send you, and you shall speak whatever I command you, Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, says the LORD." Don't worry about the expectations of your age, Jeremiah, God is with you.

The Synagogue ruler has his expectations of what Sabbath means and how it should look. Prim, proper, somber, and certainly without a renegade Rabbi healing a women who for 18 years he didn't see, touch, help, or care for. Jesus blows those expectations out of the water with a word and a touch.

What are your expectations? Which ones do you think Jesus is in the process of changing? Which ones are non-negotiable?

It is another (or maybe a continuous?) season of change in which God calls us to check our expectations at the door for his honor and glory. Enjoy the ride.