Reflection

Last week I took bit of time on Monday and Tuesday to attend the annual Renew conference at CMU for pastors and church leaders. The theme for the sessions and workshops was “Leading with Hope in Anxious Times”. In some ways, the “anxious times” was the easy part to talk about. We all had no shortage of anxieties to name, between the challenges of our personal lives and the craziness of world events all around us. Never mind the worries and fears that we each carry in relation to the future of the churches that we love! Part of the invitation that we received was to name and acknowledge our wounds and our anxieties. We are living in anxious times, even if the times have always been anxious in one way or another.

However, the other part was perhaps even more important, if more challenging, to talk about. What does it mean to lead with hope in the midst of these difficulties? Do we feel hopeful? Do we have reason to? Each of the sessions at Renew pointed us back in one way or another to our faith in the good news of Jesus as the source of our hope for these and any other anxious times we might find ourselves in. Not because followers of Jesus necessarily get relief from the things that form pits of dread in our stomachs, but because even in the midst of fear and anxiety, God makes a space for something new. A healed and restored creation that we can catch glimpses of even through the dark watches of our anxious nights.

We are all invited to lead with hope in our own way, as we move together through our anxious times.

- Pastor Kevin Derksen