In Transition - Tragedy, Trial or Translation?
The joys of transition! In this installment of our "In Transition" series, Mike Bennie invites us to view the experience of transition throuigh the lenses of one of the most intense transition experiences of all - child birth. While the transitional phase of childbirth is the shortest part of labor, it is also the most intense, and when people are most likely to experience feelings of being out of control or just wanting to give up. It is also a phase when, though we might be most in need of support and encouragement, that it sometimes seems less appreciated than ever before. But as difficult and uncomfortable as it is, the goal toward which we move in times of transition is what ultimately gives us meaning and joy.
Noting that transition is a normal and expected part of human life, Mike also invites us to notice that transitional moments in the life of church communities also experience similar dynamics, and if labor and delivery go well, a joyous sense of new life and resolution when it is over.
Of course, some kinds of transition do involve real losses that are not so easily resolved, but even in those cases, God is still at work, not only remaining beside us (even if unseen), but also in providing a way for healing and new life even in the midst of the worst that can come our way.
If you would like to listen to Mike's sermon once again (or if you missed it, for the first time) click here.
Questions to Reflect Upon:
Often when we find ourselves in times of transition, our first question is "Why is this happening to me?" or "Why is God doing this to me?" or even "This must be the work of the enemy, isn't it?" This sermon suggested that perhaps there are more helpful questions to ask. Among these might be:
Have I sensed the presence of a God who is with me in the midst of this difficult time, even if I do not fully understand all that is taking place?
How might I get through this time in a way that still honors what I value the most?
How might I get through this time in a way that honors God?
Where do I see places where, even in the midst of what is happening, that new life might have the opportunity to take root and grow?
Instead of tying God to the issue of "how do I get out of this," would it make more sense to ask "How can God help me to get through this?"
Acts 8:1-4 (TNIV)
On that day a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. 2 Godly men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him. 3 But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off both men and women and put them in prison.
Philip in Samaria
4 Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went.
The passage above describes the church in a significant moment of transition. Horrible things were happening. The kind of life the church had been living together in modeling the life of the kingdom was disrupted in massive ways. It was painful and it was intense. But, as verse 4 notes, as the community was scattered, they never stopped being who they were when they were together, and the word spread. Through a difficult time that was in many ways not what God designed, something new and beautiful was birthed. Take a few moments to reflect on the additional texts below that Mike referenced in the sermon that give us glimpses of how times like this can become unexpected ways that new life can come.
Romans 8:18- 39 (TNIV)
18 I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. 19 The creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. 20 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that [j] the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.
22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23 Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? 25 But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.
26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. 27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God's people in accordance with the will of God.
28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who [k] have been called according to his purpose. 29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. 30 And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.
More Than Conquerors
31 What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33 Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34 Who then can condemn? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written:
"For your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered." [l]
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, [m] neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
John 16:20-21 (TNIV)
20 Very truly I tell you, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy. 21 A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world.
James 1:2-4 (TNIV)
2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 34 Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.