There is a legend about a sign on a road in outback Canada that says “Choose your rut carefully. You will be in it for the next 60 miles.”
A month or so ago, I was feeling that my church had hit one of those ruts and we were stuck in it, with no escape route.
From time to time we all feel dissatisfied with our lives. It feels like we are “stuck” doing things that don’t really satisfy, but unable to take the risk of changing.
We all have routines that make life easier to navigate. At about 10.30 each evening I instigate the bed routine. I don’t have to think about what to do next because each of the dozen steps in the process flow from one to the next.
You get in the car, and you no longer have to think about how to start the engine, change gears, use blinkers etc. Those things become routine, allowing us to focus on the important things like the road ahead and adjusting the stereo system.
Routines are helpful, but when we allow the routines to define us, they become ruts. As you get older, the ruts get more comfortable but so deep that you cannot escape them even when you want to.
Every church has its routines. We give them fancy names but they are routines. You get to church, sit in the same place, expect the worship to flow along the same path. Then the comfort of routine turns into something that must never be changed.
On the Easter weekend our church shook things up a bit for Good Friday and Easter services. Then two weeks ago, we laid hands on and prayed for some people with different illnesses in our church, which we haven’t done for a long time. The same morning, I felt that God was saying I should abandon my prepared talk and talk about something completely different.
The rut is broken, but we need to avoid the next one.
Jesus said, “The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” (John 3:8)
He is not talking about being chaotic or unaccountable, but having the freedom in our hearts to hear God’s Spirit and to obey His direction.
That sounds like the opposite of a rut to me.