Opening Space for God’s Work

 The next three months are filled with some great planning sessions for Good Samaritan and I pray that God calls all of us to be a part of this exciting time. There are sessions on faith formation, worship, ministry focus, leadership, and our annual meeting… that’s five different ways the Spirit will move us into action. In addition, most of these sessions are offered more than one time, so there are at least 8 opportunities to join in and share our gifts. 

To get us prepared for all of this there are two What’s Next meetings after worship September 12 and 19. These are short meetings to provide updates on what is happening and what is coming up next. The intention is to provide information and answer questions. Afterwards we can all pray and discern what God is calling each of us to do as part of the body of Christ. 

Leading into this season of planning, we have a great story for this Sunday’s worship. We will hear about Jesus healing a man by saying Ephphatha! Jesus commands him to be opened. 

Ephphatha! Be opened! 

There is an awesome Holy Spiritual connection here to something called Open Space Technology. Open Space Technology is a way to organize our life-together as the body of Christ. It is also the way I like to lead as a pastor so I think it is good for all of us to know more about it. 

There are four guiding principles for Open Space: 

  1. Whoever comes are the right people. 
  2. Whatever happens is the only thing that could have. 
  3. Whenever it starts is the right time. 
  4. When it is over, it is over. 

There is one law of Open Space, the Law of Two Feet: “If you find yourself in any situation where you are neither learning nor contributing, use your two feet. This may appear rude and disruptive, but it says no more than what we would do anyhow, although instead of using our two physical feet, we find our minds and hearts wandering to faraway places. It is better to follow your heart than to sit still feeling miserable, and probably making everybody else miserable as well.” (Harrison, Owen, Open Space Technology: A User’s Guide. Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Incorporated, 2008.) 

Looking ahead to the next three months as well as many more months to come, I pray that we are all opened by the power of Jesus’ word. May we witness to the openness of God’s grace-filled world. May we live as Good Samaritans called to serve our neighbors. 

See you soon in God’s peace, 

Pastor Troy