Love Gillingham is getting closer.
We had our final planning meeting today and I think it’s fair to say that, once again, there is a healthy mix of fear and excitement as still too much is ‘up in the air’ for people like myself who like to have a better idea of what is going on. At the moment things do not feel that ordered.

This has worried me today as God is a God of order so there is some part of me that thinks we should have more of an idea 2 weeks out. I took some time to reflect on this and felt God’s quiet voice remind me: but … I am also a God of paradox, and a God of mystery, and a God of story. I am the God who created out of chaotic nothingness. I could go on. If God is all these things, then God is quite messy as well as being ordered. If there can be an ordered messiness then I guess that can exist within the Godhead.

Actually, I quite like the idea of messy God and messy mission. When I say messy, I use it in the sense of things being quite unpredictable but beautiful at the same time. Canoeists and surfers may well have a sense of what I am trying to say. The first day we were in Cornwall a few weeks ago we went to Constantine bay with surf boards and canoes. The surf was messy. It was all over the place, waves were crashing on waves, there was no predictable pattern, but it looked pretty amazing and beautiful.

In a sense all those on the water could do was ride the wave and see where it took them. Others could watch the waves in amazement and try to fathom out what was happening. It was clear, however, where the action was – out in the messiness, in the salty, biting spray. Out there, rather than on the ordered beach, is where all the action was happening.

So,upon reflection I am no longer concerned about how messy things still are. I am, however, still scared that things may come crashing down around our eyes, but I am willing to trust in the messiness of my maker!