Looking in Both Directions at Once
Looking in Both Directions at Once
By Dr. Dock Hollingsworth, senior pastor
In Greek mythology, Janus is the god of transitions, gates, doorways, passages and endings. He’s usually depicted as having two faces, oriented in opposite directions. And the mythic god is January’s namesake–the month that faces in both directions. We are in the week of Top 10 lists for 2022 and resolutions for 2023– January looks in both directions at once.
When my Janus face looks back at church life in 2022, I smile. I’m not being Pollyanna about the hardship of the last year. I know that we’ve still had painful losses, lingering pandemic challenges and deflating changes in attendance patterns, among other disappointments, but it has still been a good year for me. After the years of isolation, 2022 offered back hugs and people in pews and lunches and children's smiles with no masks. I’ll take it! We can be in community with each other again.
But when my Janus face looks at 2023, I smile even more broadly. 2023 has all the newly awakened relational promises and more. Now that most of the COVID storm has stopped raging, we can focus anew on ministry beyond institutional survival. The Deacons have endorsed an ad-hoc committee (The Dawnings Committee) that has been tasked with helping us find new focus for ministry in the coming year. After one meeting, we now have three important questions that we intend to answer in 2023:
What do we want to be known for and what do we need to accomplish it?
How do we leverage our property, people and resources for more Kingdom impact?
Who are we best positioned to reach and what strategies are needed to increase membership and discipleship?
Isn’t this energizing? I hope that you will be praying for this committee and our work together. I also hope that you will be praying about your renewed commitments to what God is doing through SPdL. Think about what a difference we would realize if each member took these vows for 2023:
To be present in worship whenever able
To be generous in financial support
To be deeply invested in at least one of the ministries
To be lavish in talking up our church and in inviting others
To be more committed to prayer
You and I have a year full of promise and relationship and ministry. I look forward to what God has in mind for our year together.
I love being your pastor,
Dock