Freedom to fail

I recently began a project that only a few people know about.  I decided to participate in "NaNoWriMo".  What, you ask, is NaNoWriMo?  It is 'National Novel Writing Month', and it is a challenge to write 50,000 words of fiction in 30 days.  And it takes place in November.  Along with 300,000 other people across the country, I am taking the challenge.

That is crazy, you might say.  And I would pretty much agree with you.  It works out to about 1,670 words per day.  The problem is that you have to do it every day for 30 days straight or face some days with a significantly higher number of words in an effort to make up for lost time.  Crazy, insane, out of my mind....  I have a full-time job, I am a pastor, Thanskgiving is this month, Christmas is coming up.  Crazy.

So, maybe I will fail.  Chances are pretty good, in fact, that I will not succeed.  And the consequences?  Ummmm...try again next year?  No one is going to fire me.  No one is going to put my name in the police column in the newspaper.  No fines, no community service. Nothing dire will happen.  I can say that I tried, which is a lot more than most people have done.

We can extend this to the church, y'know.  (Oh, come on, you knew I was going to get around to this, didn't you?)  So often the church needs innovation, for people to step out and do something they have not done before.  Maybe we need s Sunday School teacher or someone to do children's church.  Maybe we need to start a new ministry.  Maybe something as simple as reading a poem on Sunday morning.  So, give it a try!  What is going to happen if you 'fail'?  Nothing much, really.  We are a family in the church.  We support each other.  There will be no snickering, nothing bad will happen.  If you try and sing a solo and you forget the words, no one is going to fault you for looking at the words on a piece of paper.  At least you tried!

A new ministry?  I know that most ministries will have a learning curve.  And many will fail.   But if we try ten things and nine fail, we will still have tried and we will still have that one success which we wouldn't have otherwise.

And if we do succeed?  It is all to the Glory of God.

So come on and give it a try. 


"Not to us, LORD, not to us but to your name be the glory..."  Psalm 115:1 (NIV)

.