This last week we celebrated our community at Charge Conference.  This is the annual meeting of the church where we elect officers and review our past year of ministry.  One of the things that our regional supervising pastor (called a District Superintendent in Methodese) had us do was to think about What If…..  She invited us to dream about our future as a community and think about what God might be unfolding in our midst.

The next day when I went to the Art Museum for the weekly docent lectures we heard from some of the staff at the museum about the new Picturing Oregon exhibit and all the innovate ways they are shifting the museum experience to help more and more people connect with art.  And this made me think, what if the church’s goal was to help more and more people connect with God?

That evening I went to dance class with my husband.  I am most comfortable dancing with him, but we rotate through partners during the class.  And it was uncomfortable at first to learn how to dance in closed position with a young man named Will instead of with my husband. And yet as we danced I learned from him, and Raleigh, and Lars, and Emerson, so that by the time I rotated to Jeff we both had improved and were better dancers than if we had only danced with each other.  What if God is asking us to get outside our comfort zone to learn about living our faith from other people?

On Tuesday my daughter and her 3 friends trick or treated, ending up at our house where they negotiated and traded candy until each person had what they wanted.  I saw the girls making deals out of love with a balanced perspective not only of what each wanted most, but also with an interest that her friend get good stuff too.  What if we navigated the world with a sense of deep care for self and others?

Choir rehearsal

On Wednesday night I sat in the sanctuary, just outside the choir room and listened while the choir worked again and again on a section to get it right.  Then I basked in the beauty of their hard work as they lifted their voices in song, perfectly nuanced as they came to the tricky bits.  What if  by working through the hard parts God has immense beauty waiting for us?

God calls us to dream and to think about what might be unfolding.  What if my life continues to call me to dream so that I may be part of this holy unfolding?

-Eilidh