Roger Ross, Director of Congregational Excellence for The Missouri Annual Conference of The United Methodist Church, recently wrote a book entitled, Come Back – Returning to the Life You Were Made For. In the book, Ross references something called a “Cynicism Spiral” – a spiral of emotions whose end result is being stuck in cynicism. Why are we stuck in cynicism? Because we are tired of being disappointed.
Some may say, “I didn’t start out this way; it just sort of happened.” And they would be right. It’s just that disappointment is not a sign of being cynical about life; it is only the starting point. Maybe this entire process of pandemic, closings, quarantines, openings, infection rates, re-closings, masks, distancing, etc. has left you…well…something more than disappointed. Perhaps you feel one, or some, or all of the following: disappointment, frustration, anger, sadness, or depression. The thing is, the more of those emotions you have felt, the closer you may be coming to the end result – cynicism.
The good news is that you have already taken the first step in getting out of that cycle: you are becoming aware of the cycle. It gets better; it is possible to get out of that cycle! It gets better still; there is a first step to take in removing the Cynicism Spiral from our lives. Wait for it…
That first step is to…start with why. In the words of Ross, “Why you do what you do?” Why do you get out of bed or head off to school or go to work? Why do you take care of your family, attend worship, serve in the community, spend time with friends, or start a new project? He goes on to say that without a strong why, our what will always run out of steam. Our what will seem like an endless stream of disconnected tasks – disconnected because they are not attached to a purpose. People don’t grow cynical because of what they might or might not be doing. People grow cynical from the lack of a why.
Why are we starting to re-open our church doors? Because the vaccine is becoming very accessible, more and more people are getting the vaccine, and we have protocols in place to keep everyone as safe as possible. Why will we continue with the online services? Because we are reaching into more households than we have in years; some who may never darken the doors of the church. Why would we do that? Because that is part of being a church that seeks to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world – the world God has placed before us during this pandemic.
May this next season in our lives – individually and as a church – be our season of WHY.
Blessings,
Pastor David