Moving the Piano

For when the priesthood is changed, the law must be changed also.  The former regulation is set aside because it was weak and useless  (for the law made nothing perfect), and a better hope is introduced, by which we draw near to God.    Because of this oath, Jesus has become the guarantor of a better covenant. (Hebrews 7:12, 18, 19, 22 NIV)

In case you've never heard this story illustration about resistance to change in the church:

A young pastor began his first weeks in his new parish on the wrong foot.  He moved the piano to the other side of the sanctuary.  The folks had a fit!  It had always been on the left side!  So the pastor moved it back.  But he knew the acoustics were so much better on the other side... and there was a bit more room and it would just look better.  So on the advice of an older, wiser pastor he moved the piano one inch.  Nobody noticed.  So once every few weeks, the young pastor moved the piano another inch.  It took a few years, but eventually the piano ended up on the other side of the sanctuary, and no one even noticed that it had been moved.

We've undergone a lot of changes at Holy Cross over the last 15-20 years and not all of it has been gradual.  We've changed our worship style.  We've changed the look of our sanctuary.  As a greater ELCA church we have changed things at a more fundamental level, by changing who we welcome as full brothers and sisters in Christ.

It's been harder for some than others.  We have even lost some members to churches that prefer their piano moved more slowly.  But generally speaking, Holy Cross has handled change very well!

The fact is, it is no longer a matter of what we want.  The piano MUST be moved.  Not just in our churches, but in our communities, our country and in our world.  The world has changed so very much!  There are so many more people; much greater technology; great leaps in scientific knowledge.  And there are so many more opportunities to misuse and abuse all of this technology and knowledge.  It is useless to point to the past and say, "This worked then, it will work now."  No.  The world is that different.  The piano won't even play on that side of the church anymore.

Like it or not, we have to think differently.  About our faith.  About the world.  We have to let our minds out of the boxes we've held them in for the past 20+ years.  We have to be willing to solve new problems  and old problems with new solutions.

Over 2000 years ago, God saw that the Law wasn't going to work any more.  So he did a new thing... completely out of the box!  He came to earth to fulfill the Law himself and make a way for us.  Who would have thought it!  God tried moving the piano little by little by sending his prophets, but there came a point when the world was different enough that the piano just kept slipping back to its original position, so God just picked it up and put it where it needed to be by sending Jesus.  And there were people who would not accept such a radical change.  They were sure God was too conservative to do something so radical.  But they were wrong.

It is time again for something just that new... just that wild and crazy and out of the box.  God will send someone  or inspire someone or some group to bring that change too... if he hasn't already.  We just need to make sure our hearts are open and grace-filled enough to receive it.  Don't let yourself get stuck with the old piano that doesn't work anymore.

Father,
The world is ripe for a new thing from you.  Open our instinctually hard hearts to receive it.  It might seem heretical at first... just like Jesus.  It might fly in the face of everything we thought we knew... just like Jesus.  Help us to embrace it and not reject it.  Amen.

Joys:  a really great weekend with the love of my life; time with the rest of the family too; Long weekends.