As the year ends, hope rises. Interest from one church situation in particular is becoming more firm, and I am beginning to look forward to being what they call "settled" in a pastorate.
God grant I shall be "settled" this time. It is possible to be most unsettled in a church. One meets those who seem determined to make you as uncomfortable as possible in your work. These are the complex characters and loose cannons who go off bang at unexpected moments, leaving you never knowing where you stand with them.
In some ways, God never means us to be settled in this life. The apostle Paul had to do a complete turnaround once he had met the risen Jesus. The status and advantages Paul once relied on no longer meant anything, because he was now living for Jesus. Jesus Himself declared a blessing on those who hungered and thirsted for righteousness, never content with the world and its injustice.
We are constantly called on to leave our comfort zones. We are reminded that Christmas was cold comfort for Mary and Joseph in the draughty stable. But, along life's bumpy road, may God give us friends in the churches who allow us to settle in among them. Welcoming, caring people like that remind us of the wonderful fellowship of heaven, where there is eternal security and where we will never be unsettled or oppressed.
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