This month’s Perspectives on Hope involves the challenges and surprises in rebuilding.
REV. DR. JEROME (Jerry) DEVINE
Director of Connectional Ministries, DAC
“Destroy this temple,” Jesus answered, “and in three days I will build it again.” The leaders replied, “It took 46 years to build this temple. What makes you think you can rebuild it in three days?” ~John 2:19-20 (CEV)
Renovation and rebuilding projects are full of surprises. For some people it may bring great anxiety and hesitancy. There may have been a dream of a stress-free seamless building effort that would stay fully consistent with the original design with no variation. There may have been a dream that grand things could be done on a frugal budget, and that the schedule would be quick and move steadily toward perfection and completion. I cannot blame anyone for wanting things to be that way. However, I have never taken on a rebuilding or renovation project that actually fulfilled that dream. If you watch any of the home renovation shows on television you have seen where the designer’s ideas hit major obstacles as hidden surprises become revealed during the demolition and preparation phases. The lesson that seems so hard to learn is “stay flexible while building”.
While keeping a clear vision in mind, sometimes adjustments, compromises or new angles on the vision may need to be considered. Rebuilding projects also require letting go of something familiar and adding required new elements. It demands an eye on details yet never losing sight of the larger picture of where things are headed.
On one remodeling project that Ruth and I undertook we spent months considering what the most effective and beneficial design would need to be. I drew up detailed scale drawings, attempting to keep costs reasonable, avoid major disruptions to existing frameworks, yet seeking to truly do what would be best not only for us but for anyone who might enjoy the space in the future. After five renditions of the design we finally submitted the plans for approval for a building permit. Days of removing what was no longer needed ensued. Sore muscles and scraped knuckles brought smiles as we felt like we were headed towards the dream.
Then the surprises began. One huge obstacle, a very large amount of buried cement, brought the bathroom design to a halt. We had hoped to add just a few feet to the room footprint so that a bathtub could be added to a half bath. We were disappointed, yet had to decide how we wanted to respond to the obstacle. It could have brought on anxiety or a refusal to give up on the original design. It could have brought about a sense of defeat or futility. But it did not. We simply stepped back, considered our options, and then revised the original design. The irony is that the new version is actually just as great as the old one, just different.
In many ways this is analogous to what the Design Team is seeking to do as final details are coming together for consideration at the joint annual conference session in June. Some of you may not realize that the Design Team is finalizing the 10th draft of the proposed structure and rules. Each draft brings improvement. You may not know that the Personnel Committee reviewed the Human Resources Policies of nine annual conferences, met multiple times to draft, edit, circulate, revise and then have it reviewed by legal and human resource specialists to make sure we are providing a sound and consistent policy for employees of the annual conference. Concepts in staffing that focus heavily on equipping local churches for vibrant ministry in their communities has gone through multiple variations and is still changing as new ideas emerge.
The first draft of any design seems like the best, until either even better ideas come forth or obstacles are discovered that require new innovation to move forward, always with the larger vision in mind. I would remind us of what Bishop Bard said at the end of each of the fall Listening Sessions. He acknowledged that we truly do want to get the new Michigan Conference designed as the best it can be at that moment, yet we can always keep improving it each year moving forward.
It may seem a bit out of place for me to have started this blog with the scripture from the Gospel of John in which Jesus proclaims, “Destroy this temple and in three days I will build it again.” The fuller context of that quote was when Jesus came to the temple grounds and found “moneychangers” and “people selling cattle, sheep, and doves in the temple”. Perhaps you remember the story where Jesus turns over the tables and cries out, “Don’t make my Father’s house a marketplace.” Then the exchange about destroying and rebuilding the temple took place. While he was hinting at his own death and resurrection, the whole event in the temple was introducing a new design to the faith community. It would mean opening up access to God in a new way, setting aside some ways that would no longer be helpful or needed, and building new spaces to explore.
The New Interpreter’s Bible Commentary states that this passage “highlights the challenge and threat that new life poses to the existing order”. Jesus is challenging the systems of power and those in those positions to consider how they are either opening or restricting full access to God through how they have “organized” things. The Commentary goes on to apply this challenge to the contemporary Church:
Christian faith communities must be willing to ask where and when the status quo of religious practices and institutions has been absolutized and, therefore, closed to the possibility of reformation, change, and renewal.
Rebuilding requires vision, imagination, deconstruction, disruption, reframing, flexibility and adaptability. These seem appropriate leadership characteristics for all of us as we seek to build a new Michigan Conference, keeping God’s vision for us always in focus. What holds true for creating the new conference is also true as each of our local churches examine what it may take for them to experience renovation and renewal as well.
Last Updated on March 21, 2017