Walking in the Mess
I’ve been sitting here for the last half hour trying to figure out a snappy way to start this article but I must be all out of snappy, because I’m drawing a blank! It could be because I’m trying to write this the Monday after Council, and the 200 or 300 conversations (probably an exaggeration but feels true) I had at Council have completely drained my brain. It might also be because the topic I’ve been thinking about for the last six months is so complex that there may not be a snappy start for a topic of this magnitude.
It is the nature of my job that I spend more time than the average individual at the messy end of the church…conflicts, disagreements and sometimes discipline and, so far, 2025 has been full of messy. As I sit down to write this article, you find me midstream on trying to answer the question, “How could this have been avoided?” for a number of people and situations. One observation I have at this point in my ponderings is that many devastating human actions/decisions/attitudes begin as a small lie that we accept about ourselves or someone else.
The normal human reaction to that statement is for you and I to believe that I’m talking about somebody else, not you, and especially not me! But the hard truth is that I’m actually talking about you, and the harder truth is that I’m talking about me. So much of the devastation in our lives has its roots in a small seed of self-deception that blossoms into a tree of deception, spreading into our relationships and often yielding an unexpectedly devastating fruit.
Just this past week at council during my 217th conversation (once again a likely exaggeration that feels true), I felt this impulse to answer a question in a way that exaggerated the truth and made me, and our District, look better than reality. Good news…the Holy Spirit caught me and redirected my words. Bad news….I discovered (again!) that the messy stuff is still in me!
Well, it’s about time for me to wrap this article up with a snappy, three-point alliteration, however, I will refer you back to my previous mention of a snappiness deficit in my life at the moment. So, I will, instead, offer you a couple of thoughts that are very much in formation for me at the moment and perhaps you can help me refine them.
How do we avoid the devastating fruit of sin in our lives?
By recognizing the true condition of your heart. Jeremiah chapter 17 verse 9 says “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure.” The ESV version of Jeremiah 17 nine says “The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately sick who can understand it.” The Message version of the same passage says, “The heart is hopelessly dark and deceitful, a puzzle no one can figure out.” Some of you are going to want to have a theological discussion about the fact that this Jeremiah passage is pre-cross but if you do you will miss the main point. While we are on this earth our heart remains susceptible to the influence of a sin soaked world. Be alert!…..because there is messy (sin) in you.
By a constant and desperate reliance on the Holy Spirit. John 14:17 is a verse marking the remarkable transition of a God who was with us, and now lives in us through his Holy Spirit. There is no path through the messy of this world without the active, constant, and transformative power of the Holy Spirit. I would even go so far as to suggest that if you have not heard from the Holy Spirit today, multiple times, you are one day away from wandering off into the weeds of destruction, both yours and those around you. We live in a generation where thousands of things demand our daily attention and it is easy to become a people who walk with Jesus in name only but not in practice. Turn Netflix off….set down your phone……and rekindle a hunger for the voice of the Spirit. This is the only path through the messy in this world.
As always I remain your partner on the journey of growth.
Dan
Dan Scarrow
District Superintendent