If you were in my kitchen on Tuesday night, this is what you would have overheard:
Brita: “Honey, what should I write about for this week’s parish newsletter?”
My husband, Jason: “Hmmm…write about flexibility in transformation.”
Brita: “Transformation? What are you talking about?”
Jason: “Yeah, the parish transformation.”
Now at this point I’m thinking he’s confused transformation with transubstantiation (it is still the Year of the Eucharist after all) but that still doesn’t make sense with the word flexibility…
Jason continues, “You know, Fr. Bill leaving and the new pastor coming.”
“Ohhhhh, you mean transition! Write about the parish transition.”
Now the conversation went on with a slight disagreement about the differences in word choice to explain this situation when it struck me…my husband speaks “corporate” and I speak “church.” That night I asked God to make clear what He wanted me to write about & the next morning divine inspiration struck and all of a sudden I had too many ideas of what to write about.
Here’s what I learned from this conversation:
1. We need to choose our words carefully. How many people in our community are missing out on the meaning of what we’re trying to communicate because the staff throws around religious jargon that most people don’t understand?
2. Always make God my first choice. When I have a problem, do I go to God first or do I treat Him like a last resort? I’d like to say He’s always my first choice, but I tend to want to take control of situations and have to actively work to release that control to Him.
3. God wants to bless me (& you!) abundantly. I asked for one thing to write about and was overwhelmed with my options of directions I could take this article (I narrowed down a list of 6 to these 3). That’s what God wants to do for us. He wants to fill us to overflowing with His goodness and love. All we have to do is invite Him in and trust Him enough to get out of His way.
Oh and the parish transformation? Yes, you’ll hear a lot more about that in the weeks to come.
-Brita Jaingue
Youth Minister
