February 4th

The Real Journey

I’ve been the Interim Pastor at Trinity Mennonite Church in south Calgary since September 2024. Before coming to Trinity I was campus chaplain at Ambrose University (10 years) and before that a pastor and a philosophy professor. Though my roots are in the Nazarene church (influenced by John Wesley and the 19th century holiness movement ), I bring some Prussian/Low German/Mennonite bona fides: my mom’s maiden name is Doerksen, I have a Grandma Vogt, and I own a crokinole board. My wife Ruth and I are loving the fellowship and new friendships we’ve found at Trinity and the MCA community. Thank you.

My status at Trinity is interim (def: “for an intervening time; provisional or temporary”) and my focus is on both pastoral care and transition. The latter means guiding us through a season of healthy change to prepare for what is coming next. Change is on the agenda for every church in 2025. As we celebrate 500 years of Anabaptism, we also must wrestle with this lesson of history (and I can’t think of one exception): the very zeal that propelled reformers and revolutionaries to bold innovation eventually wears out, and their courage hardens into pride and defensiveness that renders them invulnerable to the next wave of renewal. Ouch! What makes change so hard? 

One answer is that we don’t actually fear the new (artificial Intelligence may be an exception), but we do fear what we might lose. Over the past few weeks many congregations have been reflecting on personal and collective renewal by telling our stories, repentance, yieldedness, and worship. The wise know that healthy change needs to be “traditioned innovation” yet we’re not sure exactly what to do next. We may feel anxious, uncertain about the future. The temptation is to look for easy answers and avoid the pain of needed change.

What if the challenge is the answer? What if our searching is the place that makes a full and trusting surrender to God’s Spirit our main work in such a time as this?  

Christian poet, Wendell Berry, writes:

It may be that when we no longer know what to do

         …we have come to our real work,

And that when we no longer know which way to go

         we have come to our real journey.

  The mind that is not baffled is not employed.

    The impeded stream is the one that sings.

This is not a new idea. Waiting upon the Lord in the cloud of unknowing is where the real work begins. I confess I need constant reminding of this lesson, especially as someone who wants to know what to do next! The first work is to admit our limitations and entrust our lives and our churches to the Lord. To surrender, trust, listen, and receive. We can do this. Let the real journey continue, in our hearts and in our churches. Amen!