I once read a book about dolphins. It had lots of drawings of dolphins moving swiftly and gracefully through ocean waters. It’s part of their DNA to stay on the move and to make adjustments.
The book wasn’t really about aquatic animals, though. It was about CHANGE. It drew lessons from dolphins, how they swim to and fro to find food, enjoy the company of other dolphins, cope with changing conditions, take advantage of ocean currents and AVOID SHARKS!
Dolphins stay on the move; it’s part of being a dolphin, part of dolphin DNA. And change (staying on the move) is part of the DNA of the Church as well. Led by instinct (by Christ’s Spirit, we might say) and by a will to survive, the Church changes how it does things. It adjusts to changing currents and to the arrival of new opportunities, new competitors and looming threats.
So movement and adjustment are in the DNA of dolphins, and change is also part of who we are as Christ’s Church. We were made to move! TO STAY IN PLACE IS TO DIE! As the Early Church sprang up and reached around the Mediterranean world, it also took on new languages, new worship rituals and new ways of sharing God’s love.
I am giving a lot of thought these days to the changing conditions the Church faces and how we should adjust in order to be faithful to who we are. Notice, I’m not wondering IF we should change but HOW we should change. Let’s talk. Let’s think. Let’s learn. Let’s pray. And let’s be faithful to our DNA.
See you in church on Sunday!
Paul