Dear Colleagues,

The new year has begun!  Ready or not--here we are!

This is a time to reflect and to determine what shifts, if any, we would like to make in our life or our leadership.

In my work with clergy, I am often struck with how we often have a story that begins with "Someday...".

You know the familiar story: "Someday, I will..."; "Someday, things will...", "Someday, they (the congregation) will...."

Sometimes we need to make BIG CHANGES. Those can be necessary for our personal and professional growth and evolution--or even our well-being.  Sometimes, we can no longer postpone what our body-spirit and the Spirit needs for us to do.

Sometimes we need to make what I call CHANGES IN PLACE. Why wait for something to happen? Why wait for only big changes when we can make small, but significant shifts right now?' 

Indeed, CHANGES IN PLACE and BIG CHANGES may be sequential or simultaneous.

Personally, I am excited about some of the new possibilities that I am considering for my life and work right now. I realize that even when I work within the same context--I don't need to do my work in the same way. I can shift how I do my work and the commitments that I am right now. You will be hearing about some of those "changes in place" from me in the coming weeks--because they include you. (Is that intriguing enough? :) ) 

In the meantime, here are some things to think about:

Reflective Questions:

• Are there areas in your life or ministry that you may have grown a little too comfortable?
• What do you tend to postpone? What is the cost of this postponment: on you, your ministry, your spirit?
• What are the "CHANGES IN PLACE"--that you can make right now that will allow you to more fully embody your commitments? 
• What support do you need to make the BIG CHANGES that are on the immediate or not too far horizon for you? Who can be on your "sounding board" as you ponder or move toward those changes?

Featured Article: "Confllict as a Spiritual and Cultural Task" by Lawrence Peers 

Some years ago, there were a series of popular bumper stickers that began with the phrase: “I’d rather be…”—followed by any number of activities such as: “dancing,” “riding my motorcycle,” “scuba diving” or “in Jamaica.”  I even saw one that said, “I’d rather be listening to the voices instead of to you.”

I imagine that when there is conflict within a congregation—between persons, groups or leaders that most of us would really “rather be”—somewhere else!

Read the Rest of the Article

Many blessings to you on this threshold of a new year,

Larry