Houston, we have a problem
I think we have an issue’ said the laptop operator approaching me through the double doors, closely followed into the foyer by the sound person asking ‘what’s happened?’ and then finally the worship leader appeared - complete with guitar - stating ‘it seems everything’s gone off’.
Three sets of eyes were on me and it slowly dawned on me that the answer to their questions and statements lay at my door!
I wanted to say ‘Houston, we have a problem’ but the concern on their faces told me to keep that one for another time.
(The whole Artemis trip was ongoing and all the moon stuff enthralled me… one small step for man etc.)
It was then that I realised that one small push from me had caused one giant power cut for the church! Not cool.
In my defence, I was trying to solve an issue with our church lift and on the basis that ‘switching it off and then back on again’ surely works most times… I had literally hit the reset button next to the lift.
Harmless enough you might think but oh no, this action had consequences beyond the lift.
Inexplicably, despite the notice above the switch stating ‘do not press this as the electrics will go off’ I still proceeded to press, naively thinking that it only related to the lift.
How wrong was I ??
The whole building had gone off and instead of solving a small problem, I’d created an almighty big one!
The clock was ticking on song practice and the service start time was looming into view.
Hurriedly I found the fuse box in the main hall and, realising that the error code was ‘Chris, you idiot’, I set about resetting the trip switches impacted and within half a minute all had been returned to normal. And breathe.
Having solved that, I then started afresh to think about the lift scenario and went about it differently. Firstly, I found the instructions and consulted them. Next, I asked for advice from the sound operator to narrow down possible issues and finally, I sourced the problem and with one turn of a button… bingo, problem solved.
Resetting has been on my mind of late. For us as a church, over the last year, the focus on being together and deepening our relationships as we’ve walked the pilgrim path as Jesus followers has been essential. Yes, God has mission for us to join Him in but we’ve drilled down into radical and wide-reaching prayer and viewed each other as real people eclectically wired who need each other as companions on the road.
For myself, I know that reset needs to happen in certain aspects of my Jesus journey and I can’t go about that in a haphazard ‘switch it off and on again’ approach which is likely to do more harm than good.
I need to go back to the Makers instructions. I need the wisdom of soul friends to give me gentle and wise advice as I navigate tough stuff. There is a book by Amy Orr-Ewing on Forgiveness about to hit the shelves and I’m drawn to it…. Forgiving others…. Forgiving myself. Lord have mercy.
I don’t know what it is for you but I do know that resets on both a personal and church level are needed to keep us honest and accountable with each other, so that we can be authentic Jesus carriers in who we are and what we do and ultimately make sure that we sit in God’s presence in vulnerability and transparency and allow Him to reshape us to go again.
I’ve been struck recently on the patience of God as seen in Gideon and that same patience is demonstrated to us through God’s outrageous grace and enduring love.
Whether you have recently reset, are in the process of resetting or recognising the need to reset, may you lean into the arms of Father God and simply say ‘here I am…available… purify me…. restore to me the joy of your salvation.
May His kingdom come in us and our church. To God be the glory 🔥🙏🏻
(Photo from Unsplash - Alessandro Venturi)
