Meeting the Challenge

Jesus, undeterred, went right ahead and gave his charge: “God authorized and commanded me to commission you: Go out and train everyone you meet, far and near, in this way of life, marking them by baptism in the threefold name: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Then instruct them in the practice of all I have commanded you. I’ll be with you as you do this, day after day after day, right up to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:18-20 The Message (MSG)

As we enter into Lent, I have been reflecting on the passage above often known as 'The Great Commission', not only on the challenges that it presented to the disciples, but also the challenges it poses for us in 2017, and how those challenges might be answered.

I learned how to drive in the winter of 1961-62. There were no drivers' schools around way back then, and so my fiancé bravely took it upon himself to teach me. I didn’t get instruction in many of the challenges that new drivers day do. In fact, I didn’t even realize at that time, or for many years afterward that they were challenges!

Challenge 1: The Volkswagen Jetta we had in the 70’s had a dashboard indicator that told the driver how many miles/gallon the car was getting. I soon learned that accelerating too quickly or driving at higher speed were detrimental to this reading!

Challenge 2: Backing up was something I avoided at all costs. However with some sage advice from a friend, a lot of practising on my part over a period of time and recently a back-up camera, it is beginning to feel more natural.

Challenge 3: This came with the advent this past year of our hybrid car with its icon which grades Eco driving in three areas: acceleration. driving speed, and braking. The first two were fine, and when they weren’t, I knew why! Braking was another story. When I did get a decent score I didn’t know why and more importantly, I couldn’t replicate it. From somewhere in the recesses of my brain came the phrase ‘pumping the brakes’ and so I decide to give that a try. Eureka! It works [most of the time!]!

Now I strongly suspect, that none of these pose a challenge for today’s new drivers who have been trained in a Drivers’ Ed course.

The disciples [and by extension, the church] has been commissioned in the verses I began with to do likewise, to go out and train others in the Christian life, helping them to meet the challenges along the way. And just like the challenges I have met throughout my 50+ years as a driver, the training needs to vary over time in order to address those varying challenges that only come with experience.

Many of our churches fail to do this, focusing instead education on new members of the parish or children while letting the others take whatever they can get from weekly services that are aimed at the general population in the pews. There are exceptions to this, of course. Those are the churches who either offer courses or encourage their members to take part in courses offered outside of that church that meet their needs. But unfortunately, too many are afraid of the new ideas that might be introduced and the challenges that these might bring.

When people are looking for real answers to help them meet the challenges they face, they will only be satisfied with less for a limited period of time before they go elsewhere in search of them…

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