It's an election year, so I thought it might be appropriate to quote a politician. Don't worry, I won't be attempting to decipher was is is or sharing my thoughts on who and who is not a crook. Rather, I decided that a quote that has something to say to people's spirit might be more effective. I want to continue to press us to do great things and never fear failure. Here are some words from Teddy Roosevelt.

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly...who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who have never known neither victory nor defeat."

Afraid to Try

One of the things that has always been true of American churches is that they (we) fear risk. We talk a lot about trust and faithfulness but when the rubber meets the road, what we have always done becomes what we will always do. I suppose that's fair enough. It's difficult for anyone, especially an organization, to dare to become something other than it has always been.

But we must!!

The church stands at an exciting crossroads, one that can lead us into bigger, better, brighter things. We are being beckoned to the light, if only we are willing to go. Our American culture is daring us to speak about the real Spirit in a world full of saline spiritualities. But to do that, we must be willing to change. Oh, no, not change the gospel. We are not and should not be willing to change the core beliefs that make us disciples, but rather we must change the way we do things. Chiefly, we must not be afraid to fail. When we are afraid to fail then by default we are afraid to try.

Leonard Sweet writes, "Postmodern culture has moved from 'trial and error' to 'trial and success.' Can the culture of the church change from safety-first, risk-free to risky, frisky innovation and unplanned experimentation?" At the core he is asking, "Can the church see itself in a different light than it always has?" It's a great question, one that most churches will say "yes" to in word, but "no" to in deed.

Churches are far more likely to walk the road most traveled, hoping that the crowded path will give us comfort and company enough for our journey so we don't realize that we really aren't going anywhere. After all, there is safety in numbers.

But those numbers are declining. The world sees the status quo, faithlessness of the church and simply chooses to not chose Christianity at all. Why should they?

Think on these words from D.H. Lawrence's novel Women in Love.

"God can do without man. God could do without the ichthyosauri and the mastodon. These monsters failed creatively to develop, so God, the creative mystery, dispensed with them. In the same way the mystery could dispense with man (or the church), should he too fail creatively to change and develop."