Heave-ho!

Change. If it had a facebook page, I would neither “friend” it nor “like” it.

If it were up to me, I would be typing this in the version of Word that came with Windows 3.0. I still have the same cell phone I got the summer before my daughter went to college. She graduates in May. I resist change like a two-year-old at naptime.

Get me my blankie and a cookie and maybe we’ll talk.

Change is inevitable, at least for the living. So why the drama? Why the pout and tears and heel-digging?

Moving forward requires effort. Complacency does not. I like my warm, comfy blankie.

The church I attend and adore is going through change. At times, the discomfort, the uncertainty, the upheaval have been alarming. For a year, I questioned whether it was a ship that was going down or whether it was a ship that was simply turning.

The ship is turning.

It is time to get all of our oars in the water and row together.

In a multi-person boat, the rowing must be executed in precise synchronization with all other rowers. An article on rowing states, “Coordinated timing is imperative to avoid "checking" the boat, or slowing its forward progress.” Is this the unity spoken of all throughout Scripture?

Heel-dragging and pouting, gossip or cutting remarks, passive hand-wringing or aggressive attack: all prevent or slow the forward progress. We can’t afford these behaviors, whether we’re talking about a church or a relationship or a community or whatever obstacle.

Brothers and sisters, it is all hands on deck. It is not time to “bail out” but to “bail water”. Patch the holes. Raise the anchor. Train the rowers. Gird your loins. You can always tie your blankie around your waist.

And don’t forget the cookies.