Entrepreneurial faith

“So take the bag of gold from him and give it to the one who has ten bags." Matthew 25.28

Feeling nervous this morning, in advance of the last in-person meeting of the Presbytery of Lochcarron Skye. Every parish apart from mine is embroiled in restructuring, so there is a lot to get over the line and I am clerk, so I am responsible for the administration of everything and picking up the pieces when things don't go according to plan. I can understand why some might feel rail-roaded into changes they don't like for reasons they don't understand and so might wish to grab whatever spanner is in reach to throw us all off course.

I share their misgivings. In our desire to be fair, the Church of Scotland seems to default in favour of spreading the pain and grief, rather than identifying and encouraging where things are going well. The result is management of decline rather than investment where there is potential and support where it is needed.

Locally and for now anyway I have lost that argument. Fortunately God is not thwarted by our inadequacies. Yet he does demand our trust and our obedience and that we find common cause in our desire to be faithful. Though we may perceive it differently we all believe that the present and the future are in God's hands and that, by paying attention to God, we can be guided though our current challenges and into a brighter future and - somehow - be drawn closer in the process. One final ingredient is necessary, that we sit loose to our own "great ideas" and listen to each other and for the voice of the Spirit.