When I was in the Navy, while serving as the Operations Officer of an Amphibious ship based in Japan, I realized that our schedule was barely cut in Jello, let alone close to fixed. Amphibious ships are notorious for schedule changes, seemingly at a whim, and ships which are forward deployed (already away from the Continental United States) more so. While there we had a motto “semper Gumby” – roughly translated “Always Flexible.”
Strangely, being flexible is an important trait for Christians and, more specifically, members of churches. However, the flexibility we need to possess is based on our imperfect knowledge of God at work in our lives and in our community. If we can’t adapt as our view of God refines over time we will be challenged and often overwhelmed in our life of faith. Not because we got “it” wrong, but because we can’t get “it” exactly right.
As we close out an exciting 2024, I invite you to consider a couple questions as we envision where we are called to move in 2025. They are, (1) What went well? (2) What didn’t go as expected? (3) How can we capitalize on what happened to propel us into our future? (4) How can St. Mark’s and our leaders assist in our growth and accomplishment? How we, as individuals and as a community, answer those questions can help us move closer to the place God is calling us in our future. They also recognize the truth, not everything goes as expected in our lives of faith, and there’s always room (and necessity) for change.
As we continue our journey in Advent, we are invited to be flexible in our expectations and in our ability to serve as God’s witnesses in Medford and our communities. Together we can achieve more than we can imagine, but we need to be open to the changes imparted by our reflections to move us closer to our ultimate destination.
Blessings to you, Fr. Les+
