Flexible and Fleet-of-Foot

 Reading through the Nativity Narratives in the Gospels, I am struck by how responsive and ready to change their minds and their direction the various main players were. Just a few examples will serve to illustrate this.

When he learned that Mary was pregnant, Joseph had a plan to quietly break off the engagement. But the message of an angel in a dream led to him very quickly changing the plan.

When the Wise Men (also in a dream) were warned not to return to Herod, they changed plans and left for home by another road.

And again, when Joseph was warned (and, yes, yet again in a dream!) about Herod’s murderous intent he and Mary and the infant Jesus were quick to flee to Egypt.

Plans are changed; decisions are made swiftly; quick action is undertaken; people are flexible and ‘fleet of foot’ when God speaks and prompts and warns.

Flexible and ‘fleet of foot’. Are these descriptions you would tend to associate with the church? As a Minister of the Church of Scotland I fear that we are more often somewhat sclerotic and slow, in danger of being captive to a ‘risk averse’ culture, and sometimes more concerned with law than with grace.

And I find it hurts me to have and to share these observation (with which you may – of course – disagree!) because I love the Church of Scotland. I have been truly blessed to serve in it for 40 years.

But it seems to me that sometimes we can get preoccupied by secondary matters, imprisoned by practice and procedure, and held back by structures and tradition that we seem to have lost the ability to be flexible and swift in our responses.

Or almost so…

…for it has been noticeable that this pandemic has forced us to be very flexible and very quick to respond and act, especially at a local level. There has been so much imagination and innovation! And even the procedures and structures have managed to just about keep pace! (And hats off to those who have worked so hard at the ‘centre’ to keep us swiftly informed, offer helpful guidance etc. That has been much appreciated!).

Of course, all of this flexibility, innovation and quick response has been born out of necessity.

But that begs the question as to why we have not viewed rapid change and the adopting of new ways and a flexible response as being necessary before this crisis hit us. There was (and is) a much bigger crisis challenging the church and it has been facing us for several decades now. Have we not heard the promptings of the Spirit, been alert to the voice of God, noticed the angels’ messages?

And when all of this pandemic has passed, will we learn from our experience and remain able to be flexible and ‘fleet of foot’, or will we (as I fear may be the case) revert to type and get bogged down in our slow and sclerotic ways as we gradually drift further towards irrelevance and ineffectiveness?

I do not fear for the future of Christ’s Church, for that is secure as he has himself promised. Even the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. But that promise holds no guarantee for future of the Church of Scotland as a denomination / organisation / structure.

I really hope that despite my observations, the Church might now have learned (at last) how to respond quickly and act decisively when required. That we might break out of our legalistic and structure bound ways and become flexible and ‘fleet of foot’.