From the Interim Moderator
Dear Friends
In church life November has to be one of the busiest months as we try to cram in every possible activity before the Christmas season. And, however much enthusiasm we begin with, the likelihood is that by the middle of November we may find that our commitment is beginning to flag and our ‘sticking power’ losing its grip.
Over the summer I re-read a classic book from the 1970s, Robert Pirsig’s ‘Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance’. This book, is, as Pirsig admits, not really about Zen, nor does it have much to say about the details of motorcycle maintenance. Really it is about quality - or, perhaps more accurately, about our relationship to experience, about caring for our world. But, in a section of the book which I had quite forgotten, there is a useful discussion of ‘gumption.’ Originally meaning common sense, we now use that word to mean something like perseverance; and Pirsig analyses the way in which our perseverance can be sapped - what he calls ‘gumption traps.’
‘Gumption traps’ can be caused by events without, or feelings within. But however they come they sap our enthusiasm, and tempt us to quit.
But if we really care - or, as Pirsig is saying, we are driven by ‘quality’ - then we will keep going, even when the going gets tough. We will persevere because we know that what we are doing really matters, and because we really care. I think that this can apply both to church life and to our walk with God: in both cases, things often don’t work out as we want; we get impatient, frustrated, insecure, and we are tempted to withdraw. We may, indeed, need to pause for a moment’s reflection, but we will keep going, because we care about our relationship with God and the people around us. And that sense of care is not just something that we have to manufacture in our hearts, as it were, but it is the gift of God the Holy Spirit at work within us - the patience and faithfulness that perseveres, which is perhaps the subjective experience of God’s persistent and caring hold on our lives.
So, this November, keep going. Take to heart the testimony of the Apostle Paul - “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me,” (Philippians 4:12) - or the words given through the prophet Isaiah, “Even youth grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall, but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength, they will soar on wings like eagles, they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” (Isaiah 40:30-31)
Nigel Douglas