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Doing a Hard Thing at a Critical Time

No organization—and no church—will survive over the long term if it fails to make adjustments at critical junctures. The average life-span of a church in the US is 75 years. You beat those odds by being smart and strategic, by focusing like a laser on your mission, anticipating problems, making tactical adjustments at the right moments and, if you are a church, by listening to and heeding the voice of our Still Speaking God.

Today's Day of Reckoning

In 2012 Old South Church arrived at just such a critical juncture.

As I write this article, I am preparing to board a plane for South Dakota, where I have been invited to preach at the 50th Anniversary of the Scotland United Church of Christ. This church was built in 1963, formed from the merger of three German Congregational churches and an Evangelical and Reformed church in and around the small town of Scotland, South Dakota, my ancestral home.

Dear Friends,

As our President and Congress consider the possibility of military intervention in Syria, I want to share these reflections from a professor of Christian ethics at Andover Newton Theological School.

On the occasion of the 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington

We spend our days rubbing elbows with people who are — and admit it! – pains-in-the-butt. That’s right: A boss breathing down your neck. A new hire who can’t get the hang of it. That person at Starbucks who is oblivious to the space she takes up and has walled you off from the half-and-half. The one you’re married to ... who, these days, doesn’t seem like they’re married to you.

i get the fierce urgency of now

so I’m asking with fierce urgency about how

racial tensions and courtroom dissensions

and scraps of evidence (and where’s the heartfelt penitence?)

and the slimmest of suspicions becomes percussive permission

(add a vigilante’s derision)

turning a chambered bullet

into a bully pulpit

Dearly beloved, we gather in the sight of God and in the eyes of the world to celebrate the honorable estate of marriage, the defeat of DOMA, and the fact that the gifts and graces of this venerable and evolving institution continue to extend to same gender couples. We gather to celebrate marriage as a vehicle that enables frail, faulty, fickle humans to cling to one another, care and support one another, through thick and thin, for better and for worse.

Remembering the people of Oklahoma City in the wake of a catastrophic tornado:

My joy is gone, grief is upon me, my heart is sick.
   Hark, the cry of my poor people from far and wide in the land.
For the hurt of my poor people I am hurt, I mourn, and dismay has taken hold of me.
   Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there?

- Jeremiah:8

Dear Old South Church,

On Sunday, with rose petals and song, with scripture and prayer, and the welcoming of new members, we will celebrate Pentecost: the birthday of the Christian Church. While the followers of Jesus have been at this work for over two millennia, let me reflect on the work of a single church, in a single city over the course of less than two months.

On the day of the Boston Marathon, Old South Church, the “Church of the Finish Line,” flies blue and gold banners from the top of our tower. These banners joyfully proclaim to each marathoner that the finish line is near, their race is almost run. When the last athlete has crossed the finish line and the marathon is done, we carefully fold up the banners and store them safely until the next year.