The mind fits the world and shapes it
as a river fits and shapes its own banks.
-Annie Dillard (Living by Fiction)
I would love to live
Like a river flows,
Carried by the surprise
Of its own unfolding.
-John O’Donohue (“Fluent”)
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings,
for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace,
not by regulations about food,
which have not benefited those who observe them.
-Hebrews 13:8-9
Seth Godin calls it the “Mississippi River paradox.”
There’s no water in that river that was there ten years ago.
The boundaries have shifted in that time as well,
there’s no riverbank that’s exactly where it was.
And the silt and the fish have all moved too.
So, what’s “the Mississippi River”?
When we talk about the organization or the brand or that neighbor down the street,
we act as these are immutable objects, basic unchanging elements or static facts.
But like rivers, people change.
And organizations change too.
Toward the end of the epistle of Hebrews, the writer says, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” Like several other single verses in scripture (i.e., “the poor will be with you always”), this one has been used to ward off change. After all, Jesus Christ never changes!
Not so fast.
The verses immediately before “Jesus Christ is the same” urge the congregation to remember those who came before and modeled faith for us, and to “consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith.” What does not change is faith … grace … hope … the steadfast love of God.
The verses immediately after “Jesus Christ is the same” implore congregations not to substitute “regulations” for grace. None of us is saved by polity alone, or Robert’s Rules of Order, or even the most updated by-laws.
In that mix, the truth that “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” becomes a joyful invitation to let go and trust the power of God’s nurturing grace at the heart of ministry.
Everything changes. The Mississippi River changes constantly – but we still call it the Mississippi River. And church changes – but we still call it “the church of Jesus Christ,” because what draws us, forms us, and shapes us is always God’s love and grace. When any congregation forgets or neglects that, change becomes an enemy and regulations become our guide.
It’s essential that a congregation – and, crucially, its church board – know at its heart what must not change. What are our core convictions? What gives our ministry life and is salvific for our people?
Working on what can change – or even must change – springs from what must not change.
And that in turn can truly allow us, in the words of John O’Donohue, to live like a river flows, carried by the surprise of its own unfolding.
What do you make of Annie Dillard’s line that “the mind fits the world and shapes it as a river fits and shapes its own banks”? What does that mean to you?
What word stands out to you in O’Donohue’s little poem, “Fluent”? Where does the poem take you?
Which of those two quotes—Dillard’s and O’Donohue’s—best describes rivers to you?
What is the Mississippi River, according to Godin?
In what ways is your own congregation like a river?
When did your church board last discuss what must not change about your church? How did it go? What changed as a result?
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