Change is Hard

by Verdery Kassebaum

When Arthur and I came to Good Samaritan in 1973, Good Samaritan was so small that the Christmas party was held someone’s house.

That’s what you call a small church!

When the “multipurpose building”—now Roetter Hall—was built, we had a place to gather during the week. You could get together with a few other folks without thinking about it.  If you wanted to talk to the priest, you just bopped in and chatted. 

We were still a small church.

And then we grew.  And other groups wanted to meet in our lovely buildings. And first the Antiochean church and then the Newman Community came and shared our space. And even though we weren’t as large as we wanted to be, we were really too large to be just dropping in, either as a group or individually to chat with the priest.

We weren’t really a small church anymore.

To grow further, we had make changes, mainly changes of structure and process and procedure. Instead of just showing up to talk with our rector, we had to ask the Administrative Assistant to schedule us an appointment. Instead of just gathering somewhere in the Worship Center or Roetter Hall, we had to get in touch with the Facilities Manager to make sure there was a space for us.

We weren’t a small church anymore.

And it was hard.  It was really hard for me to have to e-mail Leanne and say, “Hey, I’d like to talk with Chris. Can you make me an appointment?” And after a day or two she’d e-mail back, “How two weeks from now at 2:30?” It was really hard not to be able to have easy, ready access to someone so important to me. 

It still is.  Even though I’m working in the office five hours a day, five days a week, I don’t get to stick my head in the door and say, “Do you have a few minutes? I need your guidance on something.”  Either he’s working on something to make Good Sam an even better place, or counseling someone who needs it even more than I, or conferring with someone who’s crucial in making this parish work.

Change is hard.

As the keeper of the schedule, it’s hard for me to tell people, “I’m sorry, your group can’t meet tomorrow because all the spaces are full.”  It’s really embarrassing for us when folks show up for a meeting and find someone else already in “their” spot.  I don’t like to disappoint people, even if they haven’t done the planning we need to do nowadays.

We do want to grow. We do want to share the love of God and the friendship of our fellow Good Sammers. We’ve found something –someplace—wonderful and we want others to experience it.  And we forget—I forget—that I can’t just show up and do something or have something happen or be able to meet with someone. I have to plan ahead; I have to make an appointment; I have to make sure there’s a space for my gathering to happen. 

We’re not a small church anymore.

Change is often necessary in order for an organism to grow, to adapt, and the same is true for a church. Even as I had to let my beloved sons change and grow up into wonderful young men, I need to let my beloved church change and grow up into what God intends it to be; I need to be willing to change in order to keep up with it.

But it sometimes it is so hard. 

How are you finding the changes at Good Sam? What’s been hard? What’s been a blessing?