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September 2004 |
From the Bishop
Back to the future
Since receiving our assignment to serve the Indiana Area, Marsha and I have received so many nice notes, phone calls and personal conversations. Many people have said "Welcome home," "Welcome back to Indiana" or other such words of hospitality. In many ways it feels good to be coming back to live near family and friends, and of course it is nice to be able to work again with so many familiar people on the conferences' cabinets and staffs, and with local churches whom I already know. There also are new people for us to meet and get to know that have come to Indiana since our absence.
However, another person reminded me that going home is not always easy when he wrote, "Remember what happened to Jesus when he went home to Nazareth." There are dangers in moving back to Indiana - especially the danger of assuming that I already know Indiana, and the danger of people in Indiana assuming that they already know me. I have grown and changed in these past eight years, and I hope you have, too. So, I am eager to get reacquainted with you, and I want to know you as you are now, not just as I remember you.
Perhaps the most interesting words of welcome came from one person who said "You are going back to the future." While I hesitate to admit that I remember those "Back to the Future" movies staring Michael J. Fox as a young man who traveled back and forth through time, I do think it is an apt description of my assignment to serve the Indiana Area. I am not coming back to Indiana to relive the past. I am not coming back to Indiana with any assumptions that I have all the answers for our future. I am coming "Back to the Future" to be reacquainted with our heritage, tradition and past experiences - in order for us to discern together where God wants to lead us into the future.
In fact our Christian faith is a "Back to the Future" kind of faith. Our faith always turns to the past. Over and over again, the Bible reminds us to "Remember the Lord your God who ..." That remembering is essential, because ours is a faith based upon the facts of history. We worship a God who has been active in history, not some kind of make-believe god of our own creation. We must learn and remember the past, the ways God has acted in the past, in order to know the God of our faith. And of course our primary historical reference is in the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth who is for us our Lord and Savior. As Christians we are always called to remember the past.
And yet, the past is not our home. Our home is in the future where God will lead us. Knowing the past, knowing how God has been active in the past and knowing the basic facts and tenets of our faith - that knowledge prepares us to discover the future we have with God. The same Bible which teaches us to remember the past, also says to us, "Do not remember the former things or consider the things of old. I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?" (Isaiah 43:18-19). And ultimately we cling to the promise of the One who is preparing a "new heaven and new earth" where "God will wipe away every tear, death and crying and pain will be no more, for the former things have passed away" (Revelation 21:1-5). That is our future - something new which God is already doing in our midst, if we can perceive it.
"Back to the Future" - that is where I am headed as I move to Indiana, and I invite you to join me on that journey of faith.
Bishop Mike Coyner
Last updated on 08/23/2004