Feb 25, 2020
You can find show notes for this episode at https://transformingmission.org/108
What are you doing for Lent? Will you give something up? Will you take up a new habit? Is there a new Bible Study starting at the church where you worship? Or, is your Lenten discipline to "do nothing."
Whatever your plans might include, we want to enhance what you're already doing. Over the course of the next six episodes, including this one, we want to invite you to "Step Into the Arena."
For too long too many people have opted out of participating in following Jesus every day. Sometimes it's being selective about activities at the church while ignoring the vital role relationships play in the health of a vibrant community. Sometimes we opt out by not showing up. But, often we opt out of stepping into the arena by refusing to name current reality and forgetting to look to the future with hope.
If you’re asking, “How can you name current reality and look to the future with hope?” That's what we'll cover over the course of the next six weeks as we reveal five questions to ask as you step into the arena.
If you're wondering what we mean by "stepping into the arena" it's about showing up and being a daring leader. It's about choosing courage over comfort and what is right over what is fun, fast, and easy. The arena is a metaphor for courageous, daring leadership. Brené Brown uses this metaphor based on a quote from Theodore Roosevelt that reads,
"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly."
Today, we'll introduce this series and share why we chose to shift our plans to explore five questions that invite you to step into the arena.
To accompany this series, join us inside our private Facebook Group for an exploration of six psalms of lament. We're calling it "The Hope of Lament."