SEEING WITH NEW EYES

I've lost the source, I apologize, but a wise person once remarked that "the real act of discovery consists not in finding new lands but in seeing with new eyes." So true.

I like new things: new cars, new homes, new watches, new pens, new computers. I'll stick with the what I have, however, when it comes to my wife. New does not always mean better. The older we get the more we are likely to say, "They don't make them like they used to," meaning they were better back then. But, then, they sometimes make them better than they used to as well. It all depends. But so often in searching for the new (and better) all we have to do is open our eyes and look at the old. So often I read the same passage of Scripture over and over again. I've read it so much I can recite it from memory. I think I understand it completely. Then suddenly I read it with new eyes and come away with a new and better understanding of that old passage.

As a church community we like things the way they are. And yet we know deep in our hearts that never changing will cause stagnation and eventually death. So the temptation is to keep changing, be ever new, look for the latest trends in church growth, the latest gimmicks to attract new people and/or new money: find "new lands." But before we do that, maybe what we need to do is look at who we already are, what we already have; but look at it from a different perspective, look at ourselves with new eyes. When we do that, we just might discover that there is already among us what we need to grow, to be, to become the church and the community we are called to be.

That is not to say that change is not necessary. But, again, change often comes from looking at the same thing from a different point of view. We don't move what we want to change. We move ourselves so that we can see with new and/or different eyes, from a differing point of view. We can do the same when it comes to ourselves. We think we know who we are. We think we know our gifts and our limitations, our abilities and our shortcomings. And we probably do, for the most part. But perhaps we have been looking in the same mirror for so long that we've simply grown accustomed to the face. Maybe we need to look into the mirror from a different angle.

The same is true whenever a congregation stops to take an inventory about where it is. During this time of looking back on the past and reflecting and planning on the year to come, the temptation is to let well enough alone, especially if we think everything is well enough. Just don't mess with a good thing. But to not look with new eyes means that we may very well fail to discover what we need to see to help us grow. Again, that is true for us as a parish as well as for us as individuals.

We tend to take so much for granted, you and I. We believe that change is either not possible or too frightening. We want to grow, to be better, but we are reluctant, often, to do what needs to be done. And what needs to be done is usually not some major change but simply a change in position so that we can see ourselves and our parish with new eyes. When we do that, when we allow ourselves to dare to look again at the familiar, the safe, with new eyes, we just may be surprised at what we discover.