Leaders are about the future, right? Well, don't be surprised that they often have a strong appetite for the past.
I'm observing a 'leeks and onions' moment among Christian leadership during this pandemic. After the initial major adjustments to deliver services online there was a lot of discussion and even excitement around this being a 'moment' to re-think and reconfigure the very nature and mission of the Christian community (read: church). Vision & dreaming was flourishing.
The context for my 'leeks and onions' reference is clear to most Christian leaders. But let me review: When God lead an entire national community (Israel) out of their slavery in Egypt for a promised new existence, among leaders and followers there was the usual excitement, fear and uncertainty that accompanies change. Then came the long haul process of actually getting to the new thing. That's where things started to break down. (We all love the rhetoric of change. It's the execution that kills us!). It was tough. It was boring. It was tedious. Kind of like our pandemic existence. The people started hankering for what was: "We remember the fish we used to eat for free in Egypt. And we had all the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic we wanted.". (Book of Numbers 11:5)
When challenge came on the way to the future, and it wasn't yet clear what that future would look like, the default human reaction was to not only to reminisce, but to long for a re-creation of the past.
Most of what I read lately from church leaders are plans and promises for how to return to gathering. Gone are references to previous visioning & discussions that the pandemic was an unprecedented opportunity to re-shape the Church. Now its really about how to get back to what we were.
It's a leeks and onions moment.
