Why is it helpful to know the process of transition? Many churches have found good preachers and many preachers have found a good work without ever hearing of Ending, The Neutral Zone, and The New Beginning. (See May 31, 2010 post.)
Knowing how things usually work helps me in a stressful situation not to feel weird. I can endure the pain of stress if I know it is normal to feel what I am feeling and to be going through the stages of a process.
I have developed a philosophy that has been helpful to me:
1. I have found that it is normal to be abnormal. If a normal day is: 72 degrees, clear sky, the wind is not blowing, all the family is well, all the appliances and cars are operating perfectly, my favorite teams are winning, and politics are going my way—I don’t have may normal days.
2. In an abnormal situation, I cannot make another person do anything. Often, I have people ask me, “Do you have everybody straightened out in the church where you are preaching?”. My answer is “NO!!! I am working on Jerrie Barber and he is giving me a fit. I haven’t started on the other people.” That eliminates a lot of stress.
3. In an abnormal situation, which is really normal—since it is normal to be abnormal—and I can’t make anyone else do anything, what is the best thing I can do right now to make things better? That may be difficult but the work is close to home.
One of my goals as an interim minister is to encourage people to see the principles of transition in their lives as we experience transition in the congregation.
