Maybe the Paint is Still Wet

Here is my article for our church newsletter this week. Enjoy!

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Maybe the Paint is Still Wet

One week from Sunday, you will have the opportunity to worship in a very different way. Kids Under Construction is a musical first published in 1981. A whole range of people will lead in worship on Sunday morning, April 20, as we explore what it means to be “under construction” as a disciple. I agreed to participate in this musical because it seemed fun; I knew a few of the songs from my days in children’s choirs, and I was looking forward to a bit of nostalgia.

What I didn’t realize at the time was how much God would be at work in my life over the next several months. This musical articulates profound truths and deep concepts in a sing-a-long, easy to appreciate sort of way. At first, it was about the character and learning the notes and the lines. Now that those are fairly well etched into my mind, the truth of the text has begun to take root in my soul.

Kids under Construction
Maybe the paint is still wet.
Kids under Construction
The Lord might not be finished yet.

I have been reading voraciously this spring. It seems I cannot get enough of new thoughts, new books, new ways to pray, new experiences that help me to encounter God. I have devoured books like I was losing my right to read them. Spring is always a time of awakening for me, and this spring has been incredibly powerful. In all of my learning these past few months, I keep coming back to this musical. Maybe the paint is still wet.

At 31 years old, with two degrees in religion, God is still hard at work on me. Sometimes I feel like the work has really just begun. For those of you who have been on this journey for decades longer than I have, I wonder what it feels like to discover new things about God for you. Does it still grip you with excitement? Does it change the way you see yourself in this world? Do you ever feel like in your lifetime of learning that you’ve only glimpsed a tiny fragment of what God tries to offer us?

Because I do! I find myself eager to be in the presence of those who help God with the construction in my life. I look to friends and colleagues and trusted mentors to shepherd me. The construction of our lives of faith cannot be done alone. We need one another as we are shaped by the Creator God. In this job of construction, we’re not all alone. The builder is working with me.

The community of people trying to practice their faith together helps us to shape our lives as God works to develop us further. We need one another in this job. We must work it out together, just what we are going to be, the musical tells us. None of us has finished this job of construction. From the youngest child to the oldest adult, God is still at work within us. Maybe the paint is still wet.

Where is the wet paint in your practice of the life of faith? Where is God nudging you to allow some construction to go on? No one promised it would be easy to allow God this sort of freedom in our lives, but I believe it is critically important. If we really want to be what God wants us to be, we have to be willing to undergo the construction it requires to get there.

Next Sunday morning we will explore it together in worship. As you are led by this cast and chorus, my prayer is that you will allow the Spirit of God to work on your life. This is a powerful presentation of growing into our faith, and I hope you will make it a priority to worship with us at 10:45 a.m. Invite those who need to be reminded that our journey is not finished yet. We’re all just Kids under Construction. erin